Chapter 1: The Desktop

Introduction

In this chapter we’re going to talk about how to cleanup your Desktop. The Desktop is the main screen from which you generally run your computer. But it’s also the most common place to store new files and folders. This means it gets cluttered and quickly. Through this chapter we’ll clean up the Desktop and learn how to move around all of those files and folders so that they are organized and you can find things again.

What Is It?

The Desktop is the screen you generally work from. It’s the main screen where the Start Menu hides and for this reason, it tends to become a popular storage spot. It gets quickly filled with random files, shortcuts and icons from programs you have installed over time. It’s also the screen that gets personalized with pictures of your kids, your dog, your vacation, a beach or a rainbow. But because of all of the clutter, usually the picture is at best hard to see and at worst completely covered by stuff.

Many of us, myself included, are guilty of allowing our Desktops to become over run. It is a very convenient location after all. But this can be problematic for a couple of reasons. First and most obvious, it’s distracting. If you’ve put a picture of the kids or the dog or your last vacation on your Desktop screen, it can be nearly impossible to actually see the picture if the Desktop is covered. Secondly, it does actually slow down your computer, especially in the morning when you first turn it on. All of those pictures, images and folders need to load up. This slows down the startup process. If you’re already going for coffee after hitting the power button, cleaning the clutter off the Desktop is the first step in speeding up your computer.

How To Fix It?

First we need to look at what we can delete safely and what needs to be sorted out.

• Shortcuts: These are pictures with little arrows in the bottom left hand corner. Below is an example of a shortcut. You can delete these safely. They do not affect the program they link to because they are simply a link to a given program. It is nothing more than a fancy link that can be safely removed, especially for programs you don’t use all the time. Examples of shortcuts you might consider leaving on your Desktop include one for your browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome), one to the game you play all the time, or maybe to programs such as Microsoft Word or Excel.

Common Shortcuts you don’t need on your Desktop because you’ll almost never open these programs directly include your anti-virus program (this should be running in the background constantly), Adobe Acrobat Reader and any other program where you’re more likely to open a file verses create a new one.

• Icons: An icon doesn’t have an arrow like a Shortcut does. Common icons include the Recycle Bin, My Computer and Network. You can remove these as long as you know how to get to them via other means. If you don’t though, it’s best to leave them on the Desktop where they are easy to find. A little later I’ll show you how to put these common icons back on your Desktop if they have gone missing.

• Files and Folders: You probably have pictures, documents, other files, maybe some folders on your Desktop. It’s time to sort those out. If you don’t remove them completely, which is ideal, at least get them all into 2 or 3 file folders that aren’t taking up the entire Desktop and don’t take as long to load up in the morning. We will talk about how to sort them out a little later in the chapter.

How To Fix It

First, delete all the stuff you don’t need. You can start by removing program shortcuts. Remember, those are the pictures with the arrows in the bottom left hand corners. They don’t affect the programs they are meant to open. So feel free to delete all the ones you don’t need. Keep the ones that link to the programs you use all the time though. Your computer should be setup so that it makes sense for you and a few shortcuts to your most frequently used programs is part of that setup.

Tip: You can control whether or not shortcuts are placed on the Desktop when you install software. Always do the advanced installation of the software you use and make sure that you un-check options such as Desktop shortcuts or icons. This will help keep your computer cleaner without any additional effort on your part.

If you have folders and pictures on your Desktop that you don’t need you can right-click on them and send them to the Recycle Bin. If you have the Recycle Bin on your Desktop you can also left click and hold on to those items and simply drag them on top of the Recycle Bin then just let go of the mouse button. This will put them in there as well. You can do more than one item at a time using this method by simply left clicking on the Desktop and dragging. You will essentially draw a box around a group of items. Now click and hold on the box and drag it over the Recycle Bin the same as before.

If there are things there that you need you can move them to their correct locations. If you need help with that process hang in with me until a little later where I’ll talk about how to sort out all of that clutter that you actually want to keep.

Extras

Once a week clean off your Desktop. Take 5 minutes and shuffle all of the stuff that’s collected on your Desktop around. It’s kind of like cleaning off your desk at work on Monday morning or even Friday before you leave so that you can start with a clean slate come Monday morning. If you get into the habit now it’ll be easy to do the next time.

Summary

Keeping the Desktop clean will help speed up your computer and make your screen nicer to look at. While using it as temporary storage when you download something or start something new can be convenient, it’s important not to get too lazy about moving all of that stuff around once the immediate need is over. If you get into the habit of cleaning up your Desktop once a week it will be much less of a chore and you may find your computer starts a little faster in the morning.