If, like me, you use Windows Vista, you may have discovered that it is truly bad at deleting large folders – especially if you use SHIFT+DELETE to permenantly get rid of them without moving them to the Recycle Bin first. On a number of occasions I have tried to remove a folder this way only for Explorer.exe to crash leaving me no option but to start again.
It finally wound me up so much that I figured there must be a better solution – and here is where “JFDI” (Just Flippin’ Delete It) comes in. With a minor addition to the Windows registry you can get a context menu option on a folder that just deletes it via a good ol’ DOS command. You don’t get a warning, you don’t get a progress bar, you don’t get a fancy animation of a folder evaporating, you just get rid of the folder. Quickly.
If you want this for yourself, feel free to set it up via the instructions below. I should point out that this comes with no warranty whatsoever and that if you choose to use it, it is entirely at your own risk. It works for me on Vista and XP, however it may not for you.
1. Open the Registry Editor (REGEDIT from the START / RUN box)
2. Browse to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell
3. Create a new key called Just Flippin’ Delete It (or whatever else you want the menu option to say)
4. Inside the key you have just created create two string values called NoWorkingDirectory and Extended (neither have any data)
Note that the “Extended” value means that the option will only appear if you hold down SHIFT when you right-click the folder. If you don’t want this then just don’t create the “Extended” value.
6. Create another new key within the key you have just created called command
7. Edit the (Default) value of the command key to be cmd.exe /S /C rd “%1″ /S /Q
8. Close the REGEDIT Window.
That’s it. Now hold down SHIFT, right click a folder and the new option should appear in the menu. Only click it if you want to delete the folder.
Posted by Buz 
The joy of parenting…
December 30, 2009..today’s conversation with my 3 year old son that the stuff we’d just bought from B&Q was for getting rid of the *draughts* in the kitchen and not, as he thought, the giraffes.
(Quite how we’ll get rid of the sodding giraffes is as yet unclear. Any ideas?)