The Windows desktop is convenient for placing shortcuts to files and programs that you want to always have at hand. However, the availability of this place for saving various useful files leads to its excessive "clutter", which sooner or later will have to be dealt with. The operating system provides several special functions and general capabilities to help you accomplish this task.
Necessary
Windows OS
Instructions
Step 1
If your computer is running Windows XP, you can use a special wizard to clear the desktop of shortcuts to applications and files that have not been used for a long time. To start it, right-click on the background image of the desktop and select the "Properties" line from the context menu. On the "Desktop" tab of the window that opens, click the "Desktop Settings" button, and in the next window, click "Clear Desktop".
Step 2
You can launch this system application in another way - by opening the context menu of the desktop, go to its section "Organize shortcuts" and select "Desktop Cleanup Wizard".
Step 3
At the beginning of the wizard, simply click the Next button. The system application will analyze the statistics of the use of shortcuts and offer a list of those that, in its opinion, are not very necessary. You can correct the list and give the command to start the cleanup - click "Next" again, and then click on the "Finish" button. The wizard will not permanently delete the shortcuts, but place them in a specially created folder called "Unused Shortcuts".
Step 4
In later OS releases - 7 and Vista - it is possible to disable the display of shortcuts on the desktop altogether. To do this, call the context menu and in the "View" section uncheck the item "Display desktop icons". In the same way, you can clear the workspace of gadgets - the command "Display desktop gadgets" is placed in the next line of the same section of the context menu.
Step 5
Less drastic cleaning methods can be used. For example, create several folders on your desktop for different groups of shortcuts - text files, programs, pictures, videos - and sort the existing shortcuts into them. To create a folder, click the background image and select “Folder” in the “Create” section, then type the name and press Enter. To move the shortcut from the desktop to the created folder, just drag it there with the mouse.
