Before I try to explain anything, I just want to say, please be gentle, I am basically computer illiterate.

Alright, I have the Windows XP Home Edition software, I was trying to reinstall it into my computer so that I could erase the things in my computer that I dont need, like pics, music, movies, etc. Its actually my Dads computer and I am moving out, late I know, but I wanted all my stuff off his computer. The thing is that when I tried to reinstall it, it said I didnt have enough space in my partition. So I decided to just erase everything manually and maybe reinstall it after that.

The thing is that some of the pics arent showing when I look them up. What I am doing to look them up is going to Start, the Search and that way I can just click on pictures and it will show them all to me. Anyways, the pics have a title, but no picture, and it wont let me erase them. The pictures that were in there that I already sent to the Recycling Bin, were able to go no problem. I am just curious how do I get rid of these?

Also, when I send things to the Recycling Bin, is it gone permanently, or is it still in my computer somewhere? And with one of my movies, it wont let me erase it because it says that it is being used at the time, what does this mean? The Windows Media shows to be empty and not using anything, any ideas?

To just put it simply, I want to erase everything off this computer that I dont need, without having to reinstall everything, and whatever that partition space is, I want it to have the space it used to. How can I see how much space I actually have, and see if its improving with me erasing all this b.s.?

Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

What is the make and model of the computer e.g. Dell Dimension 2400 or is it a custom build?

Were you using a manufacturer's Recovery XP CD or a retail Microsoft XP CD?

What are the file extensions of the pictures you cannot see? Are they different from the others?

If you have not cleared the Recycling Bin the option is there to Restore the Recycling Bin. Right click the icon for the option menu.

You can best see your Disk space under Disk Management: Right click My Computer then click Manage then Disk Management.

For deletion issues with "files in use" Move On Boot often helps.