7/9/2008 -- I accidentally got rid of the Recycle Bin icon on my Windows Vista desktop and now I can't seem to figure out how to bring it back. Do I need to hack the registry to display the Recycle Bin icon?

Answer:
If you have accidentally deleted the Recycle Bin icon from your Vista desktop, you can use the Control Panel to display it again.

A lot of settings in Vista don't appear to be as intuitive as they were in Windows XP Professional because you're used to seeing them in a different location. In XP, to display desktop icons, you may be used to going to the desktop Properties and clicking Customize Desktop on the Desktop tab, where you can select the check boxes to display desktop icons for My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, etc.

In Vista, you need to go to Control Panel, Appearance and Personalization, Personalization, and click Change desktop icons in the left pane. There, you can select or deselect the check boxes to display or hide the following icons: Computer, User's Files, Network, Recycle Bin and Control Panel.