In Windows XP and Vista, there is a registry edit you can make to make deleting all the files in a folder quicker. As it is, if you want to delete all the files in a folder you need to go into the folder, select everything in there, and then delete. With the registry edit, you can get a new option in the contextual menu so that to delete all the files in a folder, you right-click on the folder and select your new command from the menu. Much nicer.

To add this option to the contextual menu, start the registry editor by going to Start > Run and entering regedit

In the left panel, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT + Directory + shell.

With shell selected, right-click and choose New > Key. You'll be asked to name the key. The name of the key is what will show up in your contextual menu, so choose something that makes sense to you. For this example, we'll call it Delete All.

Now right-click on the new Delete All key and select New > Key again, and give the new key the name command.

Now move over to the right pane in the registry editor and double-click on the (Default) line that's over there. This will pop open a window where you can enter Value data for the key. You want to enter this: cmd /c "cd /d %1 && del /s /q *.*

Close the registry editor and you are done. Now when you right-click on a Folder the Delete All (or whatever you called it) command will be shown and you can select it to delete everything in a folder.