I've been having a problem with the recycle bin not refreshing. If I delete something, the Recycle Bin icon often does not change until I log out and back in or I reboot. If I empty the recycle bin, the icon usually changes quickly, but sometimes it too will not refresh until I log out and back in or I reboot. This happens on both my Windows 10 and Windows 11 installs. I updated my Windows 11 install to the latest beta, but that had no effect. My Windows 10 install is not running any betas.

The Recycle Bin has been slightly slow to refresh (maybe 5-10 seconds) for a while, but this new issue just recently appeared. I'm not sure, but it may have started after the last Patch Tuesday.

I tested an XWidget recycle bin with custom icons, and that still works normally.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Nothing has been changed in the Recycle Bin code for years. I just tested it on a Windows 10 VM and I did not see any problems. Deleted a file, restored it, emptied the Recycle Bin, etc, multiple times and every time the icon changed immediately to reflect the proper status.

Next time it happens, instead of logging out, open the Windows Task Manager, go to the Details tab and check to see if Winstep.exe is running.

Also, make sure you did not accidentally or otherwise delete Winstep.exe from

C:\Program Files (x86)\Winstep\

Winstep.exe is still in C:\Program Files (x86)\Winstep\ on both systems.

I've attached an image of what the Details Tab of Task Manager shows under W.

Before reading your reply I was reading a post in the "Windows 11 Forum" and came across this regarding the June 2026 Windows Security Update. I'm not sure if this is connected, but it sounds like it may affect some things that Winstep does.

Custom folder icons or localized folder names might not appear after installing the June 2026 Windows security update.

[Folder customization] This update introduces a security hardening change to how Windows processes desktop.ini files. As a result, some users might notice missing custom folder icons or localized folder names for content from downloaded or remote locations. Note that access to folders is not affected.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/top ... 7cfcdce07a

This was the original post in the Windows 11 Forum. It is titled Recycle Bin Problem which is what made me look at it.

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/recycle-b ... lem.47421/

No problems here under Win 10, Recycle bin works fine, although I normally don't use it as using (Linux port) secure delete in my file manager.

Did you enroll to the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) ?

Could be the latest Windows update, problem is, I can't test it here because I do not want to empty my Recycle Bin and I do not have a Windows 11 VM.

I also seem to be having an issue with the latest Windows Update not allowing my PC to enter Sleep mode (or perhaps caused by a forced Intel Rapid Storage Technology / RST / VMD storage driver update that immediately followed Patch Tuesday).

My Windows 10 is LTSC IOT 2021 which has support until 2032. I dual boot Windows 11 25H2 but I use Windows 11 just for testing at the moment. I really don't like Windows 11. One of these days this 8 year old PC is going to die and I will probably switch to dual booting Windows 11 and Linux on a new PC.

I also tried Rocketdock and that works just fine.

The problem started at the same time in the last few days on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 . I only empty my recycle bin once or twice a week, so I'm not sure exactly when it started.

I did notice this error in Event Viewer.

Access to performance data was denied to user "SYSTEM" (value from GetUserName() for the running thread) as attempted from module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Winstep\WsxService.exe" (value from GetModuleFileName() for the binary that issued the query). Event ID: 1000. That error started on 06-08-2026 which is the day before patch Tuesday.

I just checked Windows 11 Event Viewer and found this in event viewer for yesterday and 06-03-2026.

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Winstep\WorkShelf.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dll. Event ID: 1000

And I found the same error on Windows 10 for 06-05-2026.

And I fixed it on Windows 10. Running sfc /scannow found and fixed many errors. Many directories had the following error.

...is owned twice or has its security set twice...

The general consensus on a Google search is "That report is not uncommon and is generally of no significance whatsoever." Unless it is causing problems.

It can be caused by updates or software installations. Steam updated several days ago on both systems, and my settings for Steam were all screwed up. I also installed several games on steam in the last few days.

So on to Windows 11.

Glad you fixed it on Windows 10.

Let me know if you get more Access Denied errors for the Winstep Service please. That should never happen under normal circumstances: SYSTEM is the highest‑privileged account in Windows. If SYSTEM is denied access, something deep in the OS changed.

As I mentioned, I haven’t touched any of the Recycle Bin–related code in years, so if something broke it must be related to a recent change. Either way, because it is very old code I'll give it another look as soon as I have the time.

Running sfc /scannow and DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth on Windows 11 found nothing wrong. I restored Windows 11 to the day before patch Tuesday, and the recycle bin worked great again. I reinstalled the Windows updates and the recycle bin stilled worked great. I installed the Steam update and the recycle bin is still working.

I'll keep an eye on Event Viewer and let you know if I get any more Winstep Service errors.

Figures lol...

Ah well. As long as it keeps working...