Oct 24
fitpro11 asked:
Why is it considered a bad idea to store a large number of files “on” the desktop — other than the standard “My Documents”, etc., which are actually shortcuts? To clarify: I often make new folders right on the desktop, and then work from there. So, the desktop isn’t cluttered looking at all — files are in their own folders, and there aren’t many of them, but some have large files in them — and a friend of mine said this isn’t a good idea etc., and to only use shortcuts to folders. How much does it really affect performance?
Again, to clarify, NOT even dozens of icons, in fact, let’s say there are only 5 icons, but they represent folders made ON the desktop that have large files IN them…
5 Responses to “File Management in XP?”
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October 24th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Preformance no, the simple solution is called avoiding clutter; having 100s of icons on your desktop usually clutters it up and makes it difficult to navigate unless you know what’s what like the back of your hand. It’s all a matter of organizing your icons and programs; where you store them doesn’t really matter as long as it’s easily accessible by you and others using the machine.
October 25th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
It takes your computer longer to startup since it has to load all the icon images for each shortcut on your desktop.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Why he is saying that it effects your performance is because everything on your desktop is loaded into memory when your computer starts. It has to read every file to put it there. If it has just a short cut it only has to read the short cut. So when you have many items on your desktop, it will slow the start up of your computer but the general operation will not be slowed because it will already be in memory.
Great question and Good Luck!
October 27th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
its just clutter, there is no problem with this
(unless you are on an active directory controlled domain and have roaming profiles turned on)
October 30th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
rollnpc is right
In my opinion having files in My Documents is only a little better than keeping files on Desktop.
I mean, it doesn’t affect performance in any way (well, besides a very little longer startup to show icons to shortcuts).
It matters when your system gets screwed and windows gets screwed up a lot. Files in Desktop and MyDocs directories are often lost or access is denied.
Sometimes when you do a repair install they get deleted randomly and when windows win’t allow you to do repair they get deleted ALWAYS.
So, to be safe, it’s better to keep files in some other directory made directly on C. You can treat it like YOR OWN MyDocs. Another partition is even better.