I'm using Windows 2000. For some unknown reason I am not able to access my Recycle bin. The icon shows up on the desktop and it shows up on my "C" drive in the Windows Explorer, but when I go to click on it nothing happens. If I right click on the icon, under Properties it says "the properties for this item are not available." Can anyone offer a suggestion on fixing this problem?
Thanks.

Reinstall the OS.

Thanks ScottGem, I was hoping for a less drastic solution then reinstalling the OS. I may have to do just that.

Its not that drastic. I'm not talking about a format and reinstall, just a reinstall over the existing to fix the problem.

Hi,
After thorough reseach with Win2000 and the Recycle Bin, it's a Registry problem.
If you have all the update patches for Win2000, from Microsoft, it's supposed to take care of this problem; which is listed by Microsoft as an issue.
If all the patches doesn't solve it for some reason, you might consider using Ccleaner instead of re-installing Win2000.
It's available at:
CCleaner - Crap Cleaner free software download - Spyware FREE
It cleans out junk files, cookies you don't want to keep, History, URL's, unneeded Registry entries, and much more. It also empties the Recycle Bin. Whether it would empty a corrupt Recycle Bin, I don't know. It might do it, and would be worth a try, instead of having to re-install the operating system.
Best wishes, and good luck.