Did you notice that the Recycler and System Volume Information folder will appear at the root of your C: drive once you uncheck “Hide protected operating system files” from Folder Options?
What is System Volume Information folder?
So what is Recycler and System Volume Information all about? Why do I get the error message “C:\System Volume Information is not accessible. Access is denied” when I tried to access System Volume Information folder?
Access is denied System Volume Information
My anti-virus detected virus in System Volume Information but was unable to remove the virus. How to manually access System Volume Information folder and delete the virus?

What about the Recycler folder? What is the difference between Recycle Bin and Recycler? Is it safe to delete the Recycler folder? Actually I noticed these 2 folders long time ago but I didn’t care about it because I “assumed” that it belonged to Windows. Today I had a little bit of free time and I decided to check it out.

The System Volume Information folder is a hidden system folder that the System Restore tool uses to store its information and restore points. There is a System Volume Information folder on every partition on your computer. Quite often virus are found in System Volume Information folder because Windows has included the virus into a System Restore Point when it creates one. Problem is anti-virus scanner can’t access the folder. What you need to do is to give permission to the current logged on user full access to System Volume Information folder. Here is how you can gain access to System Volume Information folder if you’re using Windows XP.

1. Go to Control Panel -> Folder Options
2. Go to View tab, UNCHECK “Use simple file sharing“.
How to disable simple file sharing
3. Open My Computer and go to your C:\ drive, right click on System Volume Information and select Properties.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Click Add and then type the name of the user to whom you want to give access to the folder. Typically, this is the account with which you are logged on. Click OK, and then click OK again. You can now access the System Volume Information folder. Run a full scan with your anti-virus scanner, this time it should be able to remove viruses found in System Volume Information folder.

To access System Volume Information in Windows Vista, you have to take ownership.
1. Open My Computer and go to your C:\ drive, right click on System Volume Information and select Properties.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced button where it says For special permissions or advanced settings, click Advanced.
4. Click the Owner tab.
5. Click the Edit button.
6. CHECK “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects” and click OK.
Access System Volume Information in Vista
You will get a Windows security warning that says “If you have just taken ownership of this objectm, you will need to close and reopen this object’s properties before you can view or change permissions. You should be able to access System Volume information in Vista.

Another method to remove the virus in System Volume Information by turning off System Restore. It will remove all your restore points. After turning System Restore off, restart your computer and then re-enable back the System Restore. It will create a new and good restore point without the virus. By default, System Restore is automatically turned on and you can turn it off from:
1. Go to Control Panel -> System
2. Click the System Restore tab.
How to turn off System Restore
3. Check “Turn off System Restore” and click OK.

Next is the Recycler folder. When you delete a file in Windows NT Explorer or My Computer, the file is stored in the Recycle Bin. The file remains in the Recycle Bin until you empty the Recycle Bin or restore the file. The Recycler folder is used only on NTFS partitions. The Recycler folder contains a Recycle Bin for each user that logs on to the computer, sorted by their security identifier (SID). It is safe to delete files inside the Recycler folder. Even if you delete the Recycler folder, it will be re-created once you delete a file.

If you’re unable to delete files inside the Recycle folder, you can use The Unlocker to unlock files that are being used.

In short, it is safe to delete files in Recycler folder but as for System Volume Information, in my opinion, it’s best you leave it as it is.

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