Messy Desktop

Answering More of Your Questions

Wow, I am really glad that not all of you are at the beach or on the golf course. I’m especially glad when you take the time to write with a question or comment. Please keep them coming, and then get out and enjoy the summer weather!

Messy Desktop

“Jan” wrote, “I have far too many icons on desk top - with old 'puter Windows sent me a message that I have unused items on desk top and offered to put in file "unused desk top items"  This worked great - and I would like to repeat this on new equipment.  I have waited over a month and Windows has not sent this message. Do you know how I can get this to clean things up?”

The Desktop Cleanup Utility is set up to run every 60 days unless you want to turn it off or run it more frequently.  If you want to run it more frequently, you have to do it manually.  Here are the steps: (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306542/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH)

Use the Desktop Cleanup Wizard

To start the Desktop Cleanup Wizard:
1.Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2.In Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes under Pick a category.
3.Under “…or pick a Control Panel icon,” click Display. The Display Properties dialog box is displayed.
4.In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Desktop tab, and then click Customize Desktop. The Desktop Items dialog box is displayed.
5.Under Desktop cleanup, click to clear the Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days check box if you do not want the Desktop Cleanup Wizard to automatically start every 60 days.
6.Click Clean Desktop Now.  The Desktop Cleanup Wizard starts.

Remove Unwanted Shortcuts

To remove unwanted shortcuts:
1.In the Welcome to the Desktop Cleanup Wizard dialog box, click Next.
2.In the Shortcuts dialog box, a list of shortcuts are displayed in the Shortcut to Clean Up list. The shortcuts that you click are removed from the desktop and placed in the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on the Windows desktop. If you do not want a shortcut to be removed from the desktop, click to clear the check box for that shortcut, and then click Next when you are finished.
3.In the Completing the Desktop Cleanup Wizard dialog box, view the items in the Shortcuts box to confirm that you want them removed from the desktop, and then click Finish.  The Desktop Cleanup Wizard moves the selected shortcuts to the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder and then quits.

Restore Shortcuts

If a shortcut that you want is removed, follow these steps to restore the shortcut:
1.On the desktop, double-click the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder. The Unused Desktop Shortcuts dialog box is displayed.  NOTE: If the Unused Desktop Shortcuts dialog box is maximized, click the Restore Down button (appears to the left of the red Close button).
1.Drag the shortcut that you want to the Windows desktop.
2.Close the Unused Desktop Shortcuts dialog box.
Thanks for the great question, Jan!

Another Keyboard Shortcut

“Norm” passes along another keyboard shortcut which he found on http://www.missingmanuals.com:

The World Wide Web is supposed to be a visual experience. It’s a crime to sacrifice so much space to all those toolbars in Internet Explorer—you know, the address bar, favorites bar, sushi bar. . . .But not if you press the F11 key. On a Macintosh, press Command-B, as in “bars.” The bars all disappear, filling your browser with unsullied Web goodness. To bring the bars back, press the same keystroke again.

Good work sneaking the Macintosh shortcut in there, Norm. Thanks for passing along that tip.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.