When I right-click on my Recycle Bin, why do I have these "non trash-related" programs (CDCheck & EncSpot) in the drop-down menu and how do I get them out of there?

encspot & cdcheck probably allow you to work with folders, and the recycly bin just happens to be a folder.

But is there anyway to get them out of there (without uninstalling them) or is it more trouble than it's worth? It's just that they don't need to be there - EncSpot is an mp3 analyzer and CDCheck is a CD "quality" analyzer.

most programms that integrate context menus have to option to enable/disable the feature either during install or in settings.

but you want to "get them out of" the recycly bin? or from all the folders? if from the recycle bin, it's not worth the hassle.

You can remove them in the registry. It's fairly simple. Post back here if you want instructions. They'll be gone forever from all folders, though (unless you reinstall the said programs), but the programs will still run.

While on the topic of Norton Recycle Bin...

Do you know any program (preferably freeware) that performs the same deed as Norton Protected Recycle Bin? I found out that I'm not using any of Norton's Utilities except that.

FWIW I use Avast! as the anti-virus, and Diskeeper for defragmenting.