By default, the Windows Recycle Bin sets aside 10 percent of the space on each disk partition in your system for storage of deleted files, up to a maximum of 3.99 GB. If you have a 400GB hard drive divided into four partitions, the Recycle Bin could be using up 16 gigabytes of storage. To adjust its appetite to a more manageable level, right-click on the Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The resulting dialog box contains a Global tab and an additional tab for each hard disk partition that has a drive letter.
Use the slider controls on the Global tab to decrease the percentage of space allotted to the Recycle Bin for all drives on your system. Unless you routinely work with very large files, setting aside a maximum of 1 GB per drive letter should be sufficient to prevent waste and still allow you to recover a file you delete accidentally.
Ed Bott 