Active Desktop was never fully debugged. I have no cure for that. But I never had to enable this for the bin to function.
As to the trash can, the article I'll note applies to Windows ME and will NEVER be updated to note Windows ME. But it's what I use for some recycle bin issues.
http://www.bcaafc.com/tech/software/9598tips2.html
I am running ME with most of the stuff that loads turned off. I have a 1000megahertz AMD Athlon processor, 512Mb memory, 40 GB hard drive (using 20),NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 (128MB) display card on a Compaq 7000QS. I have noticed that my icon for the recycling bin won't change from the "empty bin" when full, one of my programs states that it won't display correctly with the active x settings turned off ( As far as I know they are still on)- clicking okay gives me a blank screen, and the buttons on another program won't illuminate so that they can be clicked to make the progrm work. I have reinstalled and checked Direct X, tried fixing IE6. As far as I know, I didn't change any settings. I have checked for spyware and viruses. Any suggestions ?

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