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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
November 8, 2009
Q.
I have a of lot icons on my desktop that I
never use and have no idea where they came
from. How can I know which are safe to
remove and which I have to keep?
A.
Apparently, this is a common problem as many
of the computers I get to repair have their
desktops cluttered with so many icons that
it is impossible to know what is there. How
they ever find anything is a mystery to me.
First, a
broad general statement. There should not be
anything on your desktop except for
shortcuts. There should be no .exe files and
no actual folders or files. Any shortcut,
those icons designated with a little arrow
in the lower left corner can safely be
deleted without actually deleting anything
important. Now, that said let's dig
into this problem a little further.
Since it
is nearly impossible to take inventory of
the icons on the desktop when there are a
lot of them, we need to open the actual
folder where they are stored. Then we can
list them alphabetically and get a handle on
what is there and what can be removed.
To find
the desktop folder in XP, Click on My
Computer, the C drive, then Documents and
Settings. Click on your username, then the
desktop folder. To display all the items in
an alphabetical list, click on View in the
menu, and choose Details.
In Vista
or Windows 7, click the start orb, and enter
desktop. On Vista look in the Files section,
and in Win 7 in the Programs section. Click
on Desktop and the desktop folder will open.
Click on View in the menu and select
Details. If there is no menu displayed,
press the Alt key to display it.
Now that
the items on your desktop are listed
alphabetically, you can better see what is
really there, and decide what you use and
don't use. Any of them with the shortcut
arrow in their icon can be removed. Any that
you don't need or want, just right click on
and select delete from the menu. These
removed items will go to your recycle bin so
should you get overly aggressive and delete
one that you shouldn't have, you can easily
restore it from there.
NOTE:
If an icon was created for ALL users, that
icon may not be displayed in this list. This
is your desktop, and may only show icons
that are specific to your setup. If you want
to also check and possibly delete some of
the "All user" desktop icons, then follow
the instructions above but select "All
users" instead of your user name.
In
addition to shortcuts with the arrow in
their icons, there are some special Windows
icons that are actually shortcuts that do
not have the arrow. Windows can create
shortcuts without the arrow and does for
some of its special icons. These include My
Computer, User files, Network, Control
Panel, the Recycle bin and possible Internet
Explorer.
Should
any of these special Windows icons be
deleted, they do not go to the recycle bin
but will display a message asking you to
confirm the deletion and telling you how to
get them back.
So, where
do all these items come from in the first
place? Many times when you download
something, it is placed on the desktop by
default. This is to make it easy for you to
find it. However, after you have installed
the program or done whatever else you needed
to with that particular download, you can
either move this icon to another folder, or
just delete it.
Another
way they get there is from most all
application installations. All well behaved
ones will ask you during the installation if
you want them to create a desktop icon, and
you can refuse. However, many just put their
icon on the desktop without any user input.
One than comes to mind is Adobe Reader. I
know of no one that will ever use this
desktop icon to open the Adobe Reader
application. It opens automatically when a
PDF file is clicked on, so IMHO the Adobe reader
icon on the desktop is just unnecessary
clutter.
Keeping
the desktop clutter to a minimum will make
it much easier to locate a particular icon
when you need it. Another way is to turn off
all the desktop icons leaving the desktop
wallpaper to display uncluttered. Just
create keyboard shortcuts for those you use
frequently, and then choose to not display
any icons. Right click the icon, select
Properties and then create the shortcut.
Keyboard shortcuts will work on any icon
that is on the desktop whether or not the
desktop icons are displayed.
To not
show the desktop icons, with XP, right click
the desktop, chose "Arrange icons by..."
then uncheck "Show desktop icons". In Vista
and Windows 7, right click the desktop,
choose View then uncheck "Show desktop
icons". |
