Clean Your Virtual Desktop

I bet you have a cluttered virtual desktop screen. It happens often and easily, and if you don’t pay close attention, you might look up one day and find that you can’t even see your desktop image anymore because of all the icons.

Desktops generally become cluttered for two reasons: (1) every time you download a new program, it puts an icon on the desktop, and (2) you save things you are afraid to lose on the desktop for ‘safekeeping.’  

It’s a good idea to review your desktop once a year or so to clear out icons for all those program downloads. Almost always, you won’t need the icon on the desktop and can search for the program if/when you need to open it. The icon is only a shortcut; deleting it won’t delete the program.

The bigger problem that’s harder to manage is the habit of saving documents and files on the desktop for ‘safekeeping.’ If you don’t trust your filing system (or if you don’t have one at all), it’s really tempting to put the files where you can see them. Unfortunately, just like physical clutter that accumulates when you leave things out to remind you of things to do, you soon run out of space and even become blind to the chaos. And I bet it takes you a while to find the files, even when they are all ‘out’ on the desktop.

The solution is to have a straightforward naming convention so that you can use your computer’s search function to find what you need quickly. It’s far more important to have clear file names than it is to have a file structure when we’re talking about digital files that a search feature can find.

Decide on a naming structure (see this blog I wrote about digital files) and implement it immediately. It’ll take some time to get used to it and remember the structure you chose, so write it down on a sticky and put it on your computer until it’s a habit. In the meantime, to get some visual freedom, create one archive folder to live on the desktop and drop all your clutter files into the folder. You could also make a folder to hold any program icons you want to have easily accessible.

For fun and contrast, consider taking before and after screenshots to see what a difference clearing your virtual desktop makes.