Accidentally deleting an important file or document is a tale as old as Windows itself, which is why there are a number of built-in ways to recover it. From diving into the recycle bin to digging through Microsoft's Windows File Recovery utility, here's how to recover lost and deleted files in Windows 11.
Lost your files on a Mac, too? Here's how to recover lost data on macOS.
The main way that Windows helps you recover files and folders that you've deleted and need to access again is the recycle bin. Anything that doesn't exceed the maximum size of your recycle bin's storage will be automatically sent there if you delete it, so if you want to get it back, you can just find it there and restore.
(If you can't find it, make sure you haven't removed the Recycle Bin from your Windows desktop.)
Step 1: Either double-click the recycle bin icon on your desktop or search for "Recycle" in the Windows search bar and open the recycle bin when the option appears.
Step 2: Search through the items within the recycle bin and find the file or folder that you want to restore. You can select the tabs along the top to list the contents by name, original location, file type, or deletion date, which can make it easier to find what you're looking for.
Step 3: Once you've found the file in question, right-click it and select Restore. Alternatively, double-click the file and select the Restore button.
If you've deleted a file from the recycle bin, or it never ended up there for some reason, Microsoft has its own free file recovery tool you can use to recover your lost data.
Step 1: Open the Microsoft Store and search for "Windows File Recovery". Select the corresponding app and choose the Get button to download and install it.
Step 2: Select Open to open the app. If it asks, give it admin approval.
Step 3: This is a command line tool, which means you'll need to type in what you want it to do manually.
Step 4: You'll need to know a few things to use this tool:
You need to input that information into the tool in the following format:
"winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]"
So, for example, if you were trying to recover your Documents folder that was deleted from the C drive, and send it to the E drive, you would write:
Winfr C: E: /regular /n \Users\Username\Documents\
Alternatively, you can recover all files of a certain type with a command like:
Winfr C: E: /regular /n *.pdf /n *.docx
This will recover any deleted PDF or docx files from the C drive and transfer them to the E drive. That might take a long time, depending on how many deleted files the recovery tool finds.
Step 5: There is a lot more complexity to the Windows File Recovery tool if you want to take advantage of it. For more detailed steps on using Windows File Recovery, check out the Microsoft support site, here.
If you'd rather use a third-party application and don't want to pay for it, these are the best free data recovery tools available in 2024.
ASUS has started selling its UGen Intel Arc Pro B70 graphics card in Europe, bringing its take on Intel’s workstation GPU to customers with a hefty €1,799 recommended price. The card is available in Germany and Austria, while ASUS lists it at CHF 1,799 in Switzerland.
Intel first introduced the Arc Pro B70 in March 2026, with its own branded model starting at $949. ASUS’s version arrives several months later with the same core GPU architecture but a different cooling design and a higher power rating. The price also places it well above Intel’s original starting point, although the two prices are not directly comparable because ASUS’s European figure includes VAT.
Anthropic has officially filed to go public, and buried inside its S-1 is a blunt warning about the technology at the center of its business. The maker of Claude AI says advanced AI could cause everything from large-scale cyberattacks and geopolitical instability to catastrophic or even existential risks for humanity.
The warnings take up a surprisingly large part of the filing. Axios notes that more than 90 pages, or roughly a third of the prospectus, focus on risk factors. Many of them warn about what could happen as AI systems become more capable and autonomous.
AI giants have a growing autonomy problem on their hands. A new Axios report has revealed that Anthropic's Claude recently accessed publicly available Georgia vote count without human authorization, sparking fresh concerns about AI security ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.