Desktop Clutter

[PrayforDiablo3]

I have a couple questions.

1. Is there a site that could tell me what/how I can safely move some of the icons on my desktop somewhere?

2. Or do I need to list the icons I have here & people here can tell me things like "you don't need that on your desktop it is in your program files, etc..."

3. Is there a free site/microsoft trick where I could keep the icons on my desk but somehow group them (maybe in a folder) without the directory getting messed up?

For example: I have a lot of games on a back-up hard drive. I also have quite a few on my desktop that I do try to use. I don't think that I can put them into a folder & call it games because it will no longer work? Or was I not doing something correctly like "paste shortcut" instead of "paste"?

Thanks in advance

[PrayforDiablo3]

Sorry, forgot to give my specs

My Computer:

Dell Dimension 8250 Pentium 4 (2.40GHz)

512 MB of RDR Running XP

Radeon 9700 Pro

Wireless Router

Laptop Connected

X-Box Live using a dedicated Email

3.5 Floppy A Drive

C – Drive (Hard Drive)(111G)

D – Drive (DVD Speed: 16x)

E – Drive (CD-RW Speeds Read 40x Write 40x)

F – Drive (Cannon Card Reader)

G – Drive

Back-Up Hard Drive

Rocket Pod (Stackable) (149 G)

H – Drive (Usually a Flash Drive)

I – Drive

Back-Up Hard Drive

Seagate (279 G)

18 – 19 inch Flat Panel Planar Monitor

HP Printer/Copier/Scanner 750 Dazzle DVC

Logitech QuickCam Express #6 Internet AOL/DSL

Wireless Logitech Mouse Casio Label Laser Printer

[shanenin]

xp has something called desktop cleanup wizard, I think this will run randomly. If you want to run it now, r-click on the desktop, and choose "run desktop cleanup wizard". I think this will put all unused icons in a folder for you.

edit added later//

it is under "arrange desktop items"

Edited September 18, 2005 by shanenin

[PrayforDiablo3]

Thanks

And that is okay to do? All those icons would still work? Or could I manually do this so that I can have it organized? For example, I just downloaded "filezilla". I have the "filezilla" icon, but I also have the original downloaded set/unzip icon. Do I need the original now that I have it up & running via the other icon that was created? If I don't need it, do I delete, remove via control panel, or just move it into a big junk folder?

Thanks again in advance,

[JDoors]

Assuming the icons are "shortcuts" to the actual files you can move or delete them without concern: The program files they point to will stay right where they are on your hard drive. Before you move one you can doublecheck that it's a shortcut by rightclicking it, selecting Properties from the popup menu, and ensuring the dialog box has a Shortcut tab with the icon properties.

To arrange things I would run Windows Explorer, change the Folder View to 'show all files,' open the Windows folder, find the Desktop folder there and 'select' it. Then the File/New/Folder menu would allow me to create a new folder on the desktop, for example, a 'Games' folder.

Then it's just a matter of dragging my game icons and dropping them on the folder, they'd all be available just by opening that folder.

Personally before I moved anything I'd make sure the shortcut is in my Start Menu, if something were to somehow miraculously go wrong I'd still have easy access to the program. If it's not in the Start Menu you can add a copy there by holding the Ctrl key and dragging a copy of the icon to the Start Menu and dropping the copy there (hold the icon over the Start button and the menu will open, hold it momentarily over any submenus you wish to drop it into and they'll expand too).

<edit> Yeah, sometimes when I'm not sure of where something is or I need to create a new shortcut I'll use the equivalent of the XP Wizard but actually, using that entails a special set of skills (easy as they may be), while dragging and dropping icons and using Explorer to create folders are pretty basic skills everyone likely has already mastered. It may just be me, I've never been too thrilled with "Wizards." Few are as easy as doing the task manually, IMO.

Edited September 18, 2005 by JDoors

[shanenin]

you can also make a new shortcut uisng the wizzard xp has, it is really easy. just r-click on the desktop, choose "new", then choose "shortcut" . I wizard will give you a browsing window to browse to the original file. You will need to link to the executable(looks like the icon). these are usually located in C:\program files

Edited September 18, 2005 by shanenin

[PrayforDiablo3]

thanks

[imabooger]

thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know if this is what you're talking about but all I did was make a new folder called my desktop and then I drag the icons I don't use so often into it. now all I have on my desktop is only a few and my desktop folder.