Hide, Delete, or Destroy the Recycle Bin Icon in Windows 7 or Vista

I’ve never found the recycle bin on the desktop very useful, so I almost always disable it as one of the first things that I do. Windows 7 or Vista has an even simpler way to hide the icon than XP does, but why couldn’t they have disabled it by default?
Deleting in Vista
Just right-click on the icon and select delete from the menu. It’s as simple as that.

Deleting from Windows 7
Right-click on the desktop, choose Personalize, then choose Desktop Icon settings on the left-hand side.

Then simply remove the check from the box:

Note that you can also configure this from the Desktop Icon Settings in Personalization.
If you’ve removed or lost system icons on your desktop, you can restore them easily.