Recycle Bin - reappearing files

You can do this and test to see if the Recylce Bin is deleting files.
Right click Recycle Bin select properties and then check
Do not move files to the Recycle Bin, Remove files immediatly when deleted.
Then just create and delete some items and see if when you reboot if they
reappear.

I would think like you already stated that this is caused by a virus or spyware.
The recycle bin is actually a folder on the root of C: which you can check
by either unhiding system files or going to Start, run, and typing C:\recycler


Worked4me.

I believe it is a malware generated corruption. There is a registry tweak for XP to restore the recycle bin. I am not sure if it would work on w2k or there is one available for w2k. I would investigate that. Or in the worst case you can do repair installation. But I would suggest go ahead and do the clening first.

regards.

do you have norton protect installed on that computer?
whoops this is an analyst...sorry talking about recycle bins ...here