A:
That's a very good question. It's best to keep your e-mail cleared out for better performance, but I understand how things can get backed up sometimes. If that seems to happen to you a lot, keep reading for some useful tips on being rid of all that old e-mail for good!

If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express and want to empty your Deleted Items folder, it's pretty easy. Just right click the Deleted Items bin, click Empty Deleted Items Folder. That'll do it. Most e-mail clients (like Netscape Mail) work in a very similar fashion as well, if they use a Recycle Bin type folder like Outlook Express does.

However, if your e-mail program doesn't have that handy little right click and empty feature, there may still be hope. Go into the Deleted Items folder (or the equivalent for your software) and hit Ctrl + A. That should select everything in that folder. From there, just hit Delete.

What if you want to keep your deleted stuff that's less than, say, one week old? Well, you can do that too. Click the oldest message and scroll down to the last one you want to remove. Next, hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click the message. Everything between the first e-mail you clicked and the last should be highlighted. A quick little tap of the Delete button and they're all gone.

Outlook Express can be set to empty your Deleted Items whenever you exit (Netscape Mail automatically does this). Just go to Tools, Options and click the Maintenance tab. Check the box marked "Empty messages from the Deleted Items folder on exit."

Whatever method you use, you shouldn't let those deleted items pile up since they take up space. Best to get them out of there as quick as you can!

~ Steve