I tried to run recuva on my downloads folder and recycle bin and both of them are showing 433,466 files found. Any information on why this would be the case would be greatly appreciated. I know neither location should have anywhere remotely close to that number.
Recuva has to scan the entire drive to find what you're looking for, so this results in the total number of deleted and non-deleted files on the drive being shown, If you mean that Recuva thinks that your downloads folder contains 433k files, then I've no idea.