Why all the obolete files in search?

[tpanc13]

I needed to find all the files with specific extension, such as *.doc.
I was surprised that files from years ago showed up, even tons of recylcle bin files all long gone from my system.
I tried to FORCE an index cleanup, but it still did not remove the obsolete files from it output.
Example: I look at the Recycle Bin with File Explorer on my W10 system and it has 3 .axx files. Correctly.
I use Everyhing and it shows hoardes more!
Is this a bug? Does the index ever get cleaned up to get rid of files NOT on the drive specified?

[void]

Please try emptying your recycle bin.



If the files are still shown in Everything:

Please try removing any offline indexes:

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the NTFS tab on the left.
• For each NTFS volume:
  • Click Remove (if possible)
    (Remove is clickable if the volume is offline)
• Click OK.

Are you indexing any folders under Tools -> Options -> Folders?



The files still showing in the recycle bin could be leftover recycle bin index files.
Index files will start with $I and data files will start with $R



If forcing a rebuild from Tools -> Options -> Indexes still shows these files, please try deleting them:

• Backup anything important first
• Please try searching for:
  :\$recycle.bin\
• Select all the files in the recycle bin
• Hold down Shift and press Delete to permanently delete these files.

[tpanc13]

Downloaded current Everything....exact same *.axx report
"Please try emptying your recycle bin" DONE
Only NTFS is active SSD...no offline
No on the Folders (None)
Deleted all $R and $i
Deleted all \recycle.bin\

What remains are files in active folders and archives.

Any clue why all the recycle.bin files were there, even across reinstall of new Everything? At least you gave me a way to clean recyle.bin leftovers. Thank you.

Should I have something set to ensure this doesn't accumulate again? Or do I need to establish a periodic cleanup like this again?
Many thanks.

[void]

Any clue why all the recycle.bin files were there, even across reinstall of new Everything? At least you gave me a way to clean recyle.bin leftovers. Thank you.

The files were real and are physically stored on your disk.
Even when Windows Explorer shows the recycle bin as empty.

Everything shows you true files as they are on disk.
Windows Explorer shows you a virtualized view of the recycle bin.

If you delete one of the $R files and leave one of the $I files (or vise versa) you will have leftovers in your recycle bin that will not show in Windows Explorer.

Should I have something set to ensure this doesn't accumulate again? Or do I need to establish a periodic cleanup like this again?
Many thanks.

Are you using a third party tool to delete files?
Please make sure you delete files from the recycle bin in Windows Explorer, or delete both the $R and $I files with the same code.

For example:
The true files $R7N4DOC.csv and $I7N4DOC.csv in the recycle.bin are used to describe a single virtual file: junk.csv
7N4DOC is the code for these files.

[tpanc13]

I notice 68600 on \$Recycle.bin\ also and deleted them
I hope these should have been in you response also.

Now I have logical and workable answers from Everthing

[tpanc13]

Sorry. You had that. I missed it and deleted all \recycle.bin\ entried first time

[raccoon]

Another option is to Exclude certain folders that you do not wish to be indexed. Look under Options > Indexes > Exclude.

Add these entries, and any others you no longer wish to see:

System Volume Information
$RECYCLE.BIN
RECYCLER
RECYCLED

Feel free to add other system and software folders that will distract from finding user documents. Alternately, you can choose to only index your user documents folders to speed up indexing and narrow the results.