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Don't clutter your desktop

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  Don't clutter your desktop dorayme <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> - 2012-03-24 08:47 +1100
    Re: Don't clutter your desktop Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> - 2012-03-24 10:45 -0400
      Re: Don't clutter your desktop dorayme <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> - 2012-03-25 10:21 +1100
        Re: Don't clutter your desktop HelpfulHarry@BusyWorking.com (Helpful Harry) - 2012-03-25 15:16 +1200
          Re: Don't clutter your desktop dorayme <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> - 2012-03-25 15:11 +1100
          Re: Don't clutter your desktop jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz (Jamie Kahn Genet) - 2012-03-25 23:38 +1300
            Re: Don't clutter your desktop M-M <nospam.m-m@ny.more> - 2012-03-25 10:04 -0400
              Re: Don't clutter your desktop nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2012-03-25 10:09 -0400
                Re: Don't clutter your desktop jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz (Jamie Kahn Genet) - 2012-03-26 04:42 +1300
                Re: Don't clutter your desktop Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2012-03-25 11:43 -0400
              Re: Don't clutter your desktop Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> - 2012-03-25 11:17 -0400
                Re: Don't clutter your desktop nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2012-03-25 12:19 -0400
              Re: Don't clutter your desktop jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz (Jamie Kahn Genet) - 2012-03-26 04:40 +1300
          Re: Don't clutter your desktop MC <copespaz@mapca.inter.net> - 2012-03-26 13:58 -0400
    Re: Don't clutter your desktop Paul Sture <paul@sture.ch> - 2012-03-24 16:51 +0100
      Re: Don't clutter your desktop Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2012-03-24 10:21 -0700
        Re: Don't clutter your desktop jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz (Jamie Kahn Genet) - 2012-03-25 09:31 +1300
          Re: Don't clutter your desktop Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2012-03-24 19:38 -0700
        Re: Don't clutter your desktop Sharon F <sharonfDELETE@THISmvps.org> - 2012-04-23 12:49 -0500
          Re: Don't clutter your desktop paris2venice@gmail.com - 2012-04-23 11:17 -0700
            Re: Don't clutter your desktop jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz (Jamie Kahn Genet) - 2012-04-24 07:33 +1200
              Re: Don't clutter your desktop Sharon F <sharonfDELETE@THISmvps.org> - 2012-04-25 09:59 -0500
            Re: Don't clutter your desktop Koralatov <usenet@koralatov.com> - 2012-04-23 20:24 +0000
              Re: Don't clutter your desktop HelpfulHarry@BusyWorking.com (Helpful Harry) - 2012-04-24 09:27 +1200
            Re: Don't clutter your desktop Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2012-04-23 22:28 +0100
              Re: Don't clutter your desktop Koralatov <usenet@koralatov.com> - 2012-04-25 10:03 +0000
            Re: Don't clutter your desktop dorayme <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> - 2012-04-24 08:35 +1000
          Re: Don't clutter your desktop "Douglas C. Neidermeyer" <sgt@arms.omega.faber.edu> - 2012-04-23 18:20 -0400
            Re: Don't clutter your desktop Sharon F <sharonfDELETE@THISmvps.org> - 2012-04-25 09:54 -0500
      Re: Don't clutter your desktop dorayme <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> - 2012-03-25 10:14 +1100

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#22704 — Don't clutter your desktop

Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:

<http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>

!

-- 
dorayme

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#22747

On 2012-03-23 17:47 , dorayme wrote:
> Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
>
> <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>


Every few months I do a desktop cleanup.  Put stuff in its proper place, 
archive stuff, delete stuff.

As I get older (possibly even wiser) the delete/keep ratio is going up.

-- 
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
  I said I didn't know."
                           -Samuel Clemens.

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#22808

In article <sJydnaO_bKZlQPDSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganews.com>,
 Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:

> On 2012-03-23 17:47 , dorayme wrote:
> > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> >
> > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> 
> 
> Every few months I do a desktop cleanup.  Put stuff in its proper place, 
> archive stuff, delete stuff.
>
 
I spend the first few minutes of about two or three days of the week 
doing a bit of this, now and then longer. I sometimes cheat and throw 
stuff under the carpet into *desktop* folders for God's sake, called 
'temporary', 'htmls', 'pics', 'clippings', 'webarchives', 'urls', 
'pdfs', 'screenshots' ...

I have been meaning for years to stop doing this and to make do with 
aliases to really sensible folders elsewhere. 

> As I get older (possibly even wiser) the delete/keep ratio is going up.

-- 
dorayme

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#22822

In article <dorayme-11261A.10215425032012@news.albasani.net>, dorayme
<dorayme@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> In article <sJydnaO_bKZlQPDSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganews.com>,
>  Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
> > On 2012-03-23 17:47 , dorayme wrote:
> > > 
> > > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> > >
> > > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> > 
> > Every few months I do a desktop cleanup.  Put stuff in its proper place, 
> > archive stuff, delete stuff.
>  
> I spend the first few minutes of about two or three days of the week 
> doing a bit of this, now and then longer. I sometimes cheat and throw 
> stuff under the carpet into *desktop* folders for God's sake, called 
> 'temporary', 'htmls', 'pics', 'clippings', 'webarchives', 'urls', 
> 'pdfs', 'screenshots' ...
> 
> I have been meaning for years to stop doing this and to make do with 
> aliases to really sensible folders elsewhere. 

I always file everything away in proper places as I save it. There's
nothing on my Desktop except the icons for the hard drives, USB thumb
drives, CDs, etc.

I do have a "To Put Away" folder on one of the hard drives that basically
stores stuff that is yet to be dealt with in some way, but the files only
stay there until I know whether I want to keep them or delete them.

There's also very few emails stored in my email application - just the
ones I need to be working on. All incoming emails are deleted once dealt
with and all outgoing emails are deleted when I quit the application.


I have one customer who has SO many files on their Desktop that you can't
even see the wallpaper image and when you plug in a USB thumb drive or
insert a CD you would have to play "hunt the icon" if they didn't show up
in Finder window sidebars. Making the icons huge wouldn't solve the
problem, it would only make it even more difficult to find anything. 

Their email application has thousands of emails stored in it and their
Downloads folder also contains multiple copies of files they've opened
from email attachments / websites.

Helpful Harry  :o)

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#22832

In article 
<HelpfulHarry-2503121516310001@203-118-187-112.dsl.dyn.ihug.co.nz>,
 HelpfulHarry@BusyWorking.com (Helpful Harry) wrote:

> In article <dorayme-11261A.10215425032012@news.albasani.net>, dorayme
> <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> > In article <sJydnaO_bKZlQPDSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganews.com>,
> >  Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
> > > On 2012-03-23 17:47 , dorayme wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> > > >
> > > > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> > > 
> > > Every few months I do a desktop cleanup.  Put stuff in its proper place, 
> > > archive stuff, delete stuff.
> >  
> > I spend the first few minutes of about two or three days of the week 
> > doing a bit of this, now and then longer. I sometimes cheat and throw 
> > stuff under the carpet into *desktop* folders for God's sake, called 
> > 'temporary', 'htmls', 'pics', 'clippings', 'webarchives', 'urls', 
> > 'pdfs', 'screenshots' ...
> >
 
> > I have been meaning for years to stop doing this and to make do with 
> > aliases to really sensible folders elsewhere. 
> 
> I always file everything away in proper places as I save it. There's
> nothing on my Desktop except the icons for the hard drives, USB thumb
> drives, CDs, etc.
> 
 
Aren't you Mr. Goody Two Shoes then. I go into the houses and 
apartments of friends like you and they are spotless and perfect and 
humiliating to compare. Instead of returning home after such a visit, 
I go to well-known suicide spots. I can't go through with it, I am a 
coward as well as a non-perfect being. I end up in a sleezy bar and 
try drinking myself to death. The next day, the perfection of the 
person you visited is gone from my memory. I carry on till I meet 
another Mr or Mrs or Ms Perfect.

... 

> ... Making the icons huge wouldn't solve the
> problem, it would only make it even more difficult to find anything. 
>

Find out where the hell you filed away your sense of humour, I know, 
it won't be on the desktop where it is easily available! Try 
Spotless... I mean Spotlight.

-- 
dorayme

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#22846

Helpful Harry <HelpfulHarry@BusyWorking.com> wrote:

> In article <dorayme-11261A.10215425032012@news.albasani.net>, dorayme
> <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> > In article <sJydnaO_bKZlQPDSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganews.com>,
> >  Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
> > > On 2012-03-23 17:47 , dorayme wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> > > >
> > > > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> > > 
> > > Every few months I do a desktop cleanup.  Put stuff in its proper place,
> > > archive stuff, delete stuff.
> >  
> > I spend the first few minutes of about two or three days of the week
> > doing a bit of this, now and then longer. I sometimes cheat and throw
> > stuff under the carpet into *desktop* folders for God's sake, called
> > 'temporary', 'htmls', 'pics', 'clippings', 'webarchives', 'urls', 
> > 'pdfs', 'screenshots' ...
> > 
> > I have been meaning for years to stop doing this and to make do with
> > aliases to really sensible folders elsewhere. 
> 
> I always file everything away in proper places as I save it. There's
> nothing on my Desktop except the icons for the hard drives, USB thumb
> drives, CDs, etc.
> 
> I do have a "To Put Away" folder on one of the hard drives that basically
> stores stuff that is yet to be dealt with in some way, but the files only
> stay there until I know whether I want to keep them or delete them.
> 
> There's also very few emails stored in my email application - just the
> ones I need to be working on. All incoming emails are deleted once dealt
> with and all outgoing emails are deleted when I quit the application.
> 
> 
> I have one customer who has SO many files on their Desktop that you can't
> even see the wallpaper image and when you plug in a USB thumb drive or
> insert a CD you would have to play "hunt the icon" if they didn't show up
> in Finder window sidebars. Making the icons huge wouldn't solve the
> problem, it would only make it even more difficult to find anything. 
> 
> Their email application has thousands of emails stored in it and their
> Downloads folder also contains multiple copies of files they've opened
> from email attachments / websites.
> 
> Helpful Harry  :o)

I never use the actual Desktop. I just open a Finder window and view the
desktop folder's contents there - much easier and more efficient. Sure -
filing stuff is useful and I do so to keep things manageable, but what's
the point of being able to see one's desktop or to try and keep it's
contents to only a screenfull's? The idea of using the actual Desktop to
open things from seems rather quaint to me, really.

Also - if attached storage isn't showing in Finder window sidebars, you
need to go Finder->Preferences…, navigate to the Sidebar tab, and check
all relevant devices.
-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

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#22854

Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your 
desktop? It used to.

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#22856

In article
<nospam.m-m-9FB80F.10042225032012@cpe-76-190-186-198.neo.res.rr.com>,
M-M <nospam.m-m@ny.more> wrote:

> Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your 
> desktop? It used to.

it hasn't for a while and only in extreme cases did it used to.

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#22867

nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> In article
> <nospam.m-m-9FB80F.10042225032012@cpe-76-190-186-198.neo.res.rr.com>,
> M-M <nospam.m-m@ny.more> wrote:
> 
> > Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your 
> > desktop? It used to.
> 
> it hasn't for a while and only in extreme cases did it used to.

Huh, never ran into that myself, but I only started seriously using OSX
with 10.3.
-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

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#22868

In article <250320121009279025%nospam@nospam.invalid>,
 nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> In article
> <nospam.m-m-9FB80F.10042225032012@cpe-76-190-186-198.neo.res.rr.com>,
> M-M <nospam.m-m@ny.more> wrote:
> 
> > Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your 
> > desktop? It used to.
> 
> it hasn't for a while and only in extreme cases did it used to.

However, I can give firsthand evidence from observing numerous clients:  
A cluttered Desktop does slow down your brain and damage your 
productivity if you have so much crap on your Desktop you can't tell 
where anything is and then compound the problem by accidentally 'losing' 
a file or folder by errantly dropping it in a totally unrelated folder 
when attempting to move it.

-- 
Remember, I'm pullin' for ya.
We're all in this together.
                  --Red Green

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#22865

On 2012-03-25 10:04 , M-M wrote:
> Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your
> desktop? It used to.

I recall reading somewhere (Macworld magazine IIRC) that the more icons 
on the desktop, the more CPU was being used.  This never made sense to 
me, an icon should be a static object.

But, at least in earlier OS X', each icon is actually a finder "Window" 
that the system has to manage (each has resources in memory and gets 
regularly scheduled CPU to do ... nothing).

Maybe with newer v. of OS X they've added some sanity to that and either 
they really are static, or at least use much less CPU.

Of course with CPU crunch power today being many times more than in the 
early part of the decade, it would be of diminishing irritance.

IAC, my resting Mac CPU use is 0 - 2% on each core (2) - and that's w/o 
dumping a few little burners like menu meters and such.


-- 
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
  I said I didn't know."
                           -Samuel Clemens.

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#22871

In article <pcudnSn1F99nq_LSnZ2dnUVZ_jidnZ2d@giganews.com>, Alan Browne
<alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:

> > Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your
> > desktop? It used to.
> 
> I recall reading somewhere (Macworld magazine IIRC) that the more icons 
> on the desktop, the more CPU was being used.  This never made sense to 
> me, an icon should be a static object.
> 
> But, at least in earlier OS X', each icon is actually a finder "Window" 
> that the system has to manage (each has resources in memory and gets 
> regularly scheduled CPU to do ... nothing).

> Maybe with newer v. of OS X they've added some sanity to that and either 
> they really are static, or at least use much less CPU.

each icon was really a small window with a full backing store (not
compressed either, very stupid). the more visible icons there were, the
more memory was used up and the less there was for actual apps. they
did change it to a compressed backing store at some point. 

this mattered a lot more back when os x first came out and macs shipped
with 64-128 meg of memory and could only be expanded to 640 meg, such
as with the white ibook. still, you had to have a *lot* of icons to
notice a difference.

icons no longer do that so it isn't an issue anymore, but even if they
still did, macs now have substantially more memory and the cpu & gpu
are much faster too..

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#22866

M-M <nospam.m-m@ny.more> wrote:

> Does it still slow things down if you have a lot of files on your 
> desktop? It used to.

I'm uaware of any such desktop-specific slowdown in any version of
MacOS, though having thousands of items in any one folder can cause
slowdowns loading it's contents. But that's a bit unlikely for the
desktop unless some poor fool only ever downloaded items to there and
never ever deleted or moved them.
-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

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#22931

In article 
<HelpfulHarry-2503121516310001@203-118-187-112.dsl.dyn.ihug.co.nz>,
 HelpfulHarry@BusyWorking.com (Helpful Harry) wrote:

> In article <dorayme-11261A.10215425032012@news.albasani.net>, dorayme
> <dorayme@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> > In article <sJydnaO_bKZlQPDSnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganews.com>,
> >  Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
> > > On 2012-03-23 17:47 , dorayme wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> > > >
> > > > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> > > 
> > > Every few months I do a desktop cleanup.  Put stuff in its proper place, 
> > > archive stuff, delete stuff.
> >  
> > I spend the first few minutes of about two or three days of the week 
> > doing a bit of this, now and then longer. I sometimes cheat and throw 
> > stuff under the carpet into *desktop* folders for God's sake, called 
> > 'temporary', 'htmls', 'pics', 'clippings', 'webarchives', 'urls', 
> > 'pdfs', 'screenshots' ...
> > 
> > I have been meaning for years to stop doing this and to make do with 
> > aliases to really sensible folders elsewhere. 
> 
> I always file everything away in proper places as I save it. There's
> nothing on my Desktop except the icons for the hard drives, USB thumb
> drives, CDs, etc.
> 
> I do have a "To Put Away" folder on one of the hard drives that basically
> stores stuff that is yet to be dealt with in some way, but the files only
> stay there until I know whether I want to keep them or delete them.
> 
> There's also very few emails stored in my email application - just the
> ones I need to be working on. All incoming emails are deleted once dealt
> with and all outgoing emails are deleted when I quit the application.
> 
> 
> I have one customer who has SO many files on their Desktop that you can't
> even see the wallpaper image and when you plug in a USB thumb drive or
> insert a CD you would have to play "hunt the icon" if they didn't show up
> in Finder window sidebars. Making the icons huge wouldn't solve the
> problem, it would only make it even more difficult to find anything. 
> 
> Their email application has thousands of emails stored in it and their
> Downloads folder also contains multiple copies of files they've opened
> from email attachments / websites.
> 
> Helpful Harry  :o)

I don't have any actual folders on my desktop - only aliases. That's 
because it's too easy to accidentally put something in the Trash. Lose a 
folder - could be disastrous. Lose the alias to the folder - just make 
another one.

-- 

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

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#22759

On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:47:22 +1100, dorayme wrote:

> Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> 
> <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> 
> !

Nice one. Make your icons huge.

To be honest I rarely see much of my desktop, so don't put much there 
except maybe technical reference documents that I am currently working on.



-- 
Paul Sture

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#22773

In article <s57149-cuu.ln1@news.sture.ch>, Paul Sture <paul@sture.ch> 
wrote:

> > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> > 
> > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> > 
> > !
> 
> Nice one. Make your icons huge.

This is how I help declutter my desktop:

<http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/>

Got my cable modem and my Time Capsule on it.

-- 
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as 
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.

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#22794

Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> wrote:

> In article <s57149-cuu.ln1@news.sture.ch>, Paul Sture <paul@sture.ch>
> wrote:
> 
> > > Came across an antidote to desktop clutter:
> > > 
> > > <http://solutions.trey.cc/2011/01/12/dont-clutter-your-desktop/>
> > > 
> > > !
> > 
> > Nice one. Make your icons huge.
> 
> This is how I help declutter my desktop:
> 
> <http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/>
> 
> Got my cable modem and my Time Capsule on it.

Nifty idea - I can see those wanting a clean uncluttered workspace
loving that product.
-- 
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

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#22826

In article <1khiafa.1bgu1tfh212ypN%jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz>,
 jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz (Jamie Kahn Genet) wrote:

> > This is how I help declutter my desktop:
> > 
> > <http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/>
> > 
> > Got my cable modem and my Time Capsule on it.
> 
> Nifty idea - I can see those wanting a clean uncluttered workspace
> loving that product.

My workspace is far from being clean and uncluttered, but this shelf keeps 
the cats from using the Time Capsule as a pillow.

-- 
Tea Party Patriots is to Patriotism as 
People's Democratic Republic is to Democracy.

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#24264

In article <michelle-342E91.10210824032012@news.eternal-september.org>,
 Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> wrote:

> This is how I help declutter my desktop:
> 
> <http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/>
> 
> Got my cable modem and my Time Capsule on it.

Thanks! Great product that slipped under my radar. Now enjoying extra 
desktop space thanks to you.

-- 
Sharon F

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#24267

On Monday, April 23, 2012 10:49:45 AM UTC-7, Sharon F wrote:
> In article <michelle-342E91.10210824032012@news.eternal-september.org>,
>  Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> wrote:
> 
> > This is how I help declutter my desktop:
> > 
> > <http://twelvesouth.com/products/backpack/>
> > 
> > Got my cable modem and my Time Capsule on it.
> 
> Thanks! Great product that slipped under my radar. Now enjoying extra 
> desktop space thanks to you.
> 
> -- 
> Sharon F

To store your TimeMachine disk (probably your most precious piece of hardware) in such an unsafe location is a risk I would never take.  That said, some people drive their car while texting too.

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