How To Clean Up Your Windows Desktop Once And For All
How to Clean Up Your Desktop
As you would already know, the Windows desktop can be a 'tough beast to tame'. Maybe you would want a more organized and much cleaner desktop, but no matter how many times that you purge it, and no matter how hard you try to keep it in order, it would somehow become messier again.
So the trick is for you to locate alternative methods for getting our most-used apps, files, and folders.
A cluttered desktop is just a symptom of a deeper issue: which is depending on shortcuts. If you can cut that out, then you would not need shortcuts anymore, and suddenly your desktop would be clutter-free again.
Move App Shortcuts to the Start Menu
The redesigned Start Menu in Windows 10 is perfect as a dumping ground for applications and shortcuts. Introduced first in Windows 8 and greatly refined in Windows 10, the Start Menu should be your defacto for launching applications.
It’s accessible from anywhere all you need to do is hit the Windows key and it’s large enough to comfortably pin all your applications.
To pin an application to the Start Menu: Right-click on the application shortcut on your desktop. Select Pin to Start. Once it has been pinned, applications can now be resized and you can mark them if they should be launched with your Administrator permissions.
Move App Shortcuts to the Taskbar
If you ever feel like the Start Menu needs one too many clicks, you can just decide to pin applications directly to the Taskbar instead. I only recommend this for applications that you use on a daily basis the kinds of applications that are always open, such as web browsers, music players, editors, etc.
To pin an app to the Taskbar: Right-click on the application shortcut on your desktop. Then Choose to Pin them to Taskbar.
Once they are pinned, applications can be dragged around so that you can rearrange them according to your needs. Be very wary of pinning too many applications here Taskbar clutter can be worse than desktop clutter.
Move Folder Shortcuts to Quick Access
The Quick Access feature is one of the better refinements that was seen in Windows 10 File Explorer. Whereas the Start Menu and Taskbar are great for consolidating app shortcuts, Quick Access is where you should put all your files and folder shortcuts.
If you have never heard of it before, don’t worry. Open up the file Explorer window (using keyboard shortcut Windows + E) and look in the left sidebar to see a section called Quick Access.
Think of Quick Access like folder bookmarks: you can pin more folders here and instantly access them from anywhere in your File Explorer.
To pin a folder to Quick Access:
Navigate to the folder that you want to pin.
Right-click on the folder.
Select Pin to Quick Access.
Pin File Explorer to the Taskbar
We are not done yet. Although some people would go for File Explorer alternatives, File Explorer actually has a number of useful lesser-known features that can be useful.
For example, you can access your Quick Access folders right from the Taskbar by pinning File Explorer just like you would any other app. Launch any folder, right-click on File Explorer in the Taskbar, and select Pin to Taskbar.
Once the file has been pinned, just right-click on the File Explorer icon and you will see a list of all the Quick Access folders. This is the preferred way to “quick jump” to the folders that you use over and over again, and it is actually faster than keeping folder shortcuts on the desktop.
Last Resort: Desktop Shortcuts the Smart Way
Let’s say you don’t like any of the above suggestions. You really like using desktop shortcuts and you want to keep using them—you just want to keep them organized. In that case, you can always resort to using Fences.
With Fences, you can make various sections on your desktop for organizing your shortcuts, with each section referred to as a fence.
