It’s amazing how fast your computer’s desktop can fill up with shortcuts and files and turn into a virtual candy store of colorful icons beckoning your mouse pointer: “Click me! Click me!” Most modern software puts a shortcut to itself on your computer desktop by default when you install it. Your web browser and email program might save files they download directly to your desktop. It’s tempting to leave documents on your desktop because you’ll know they’ll be in sight at all times. But at what cost?A cluttered virtual desktop is as bad as a cluttered physical desktop. It’s visually distracting and makes it easy to get derailed from the task at hand.
Clear your virtual desktop by removing all the icons you don’t need. To maintain a completely clear desktop with absolutely nothing taking up space, you can disable Desktop icons entirely. Here’s how:
1. Drag and drop all the files you’ve saved on your desktop into the My Documents folder.
2. Delete all the shortcuts to software applications on your desktop that already exist in Windows’ Start menu.
3. To disable Desktop items entirely, in Windows XP, right-click the Desktop, and from the Arrange Icons By submenu, deselect Show Desktop Icons. In Windows Vista, right-click the Desktop, and from the View submenu, clear Show Desktop Icons.
4. Enable the Quick Launch toolbar to start up programs without having to navigate the Start Menu. Add shortcuts to programs or documents you open often to this toolbar for easy access. The limited real estate is a good thing: choose only the items you launch often. (For example, if you open the status.xls spreadsheet every other day, use a shortcut to that document, instead of a shortcut to Excel.) As for all your other programs? Fear not: they’re still accessible, safely tucked away in the Programs folder.
