How do you prefer to have your desktop set up?

[Dweller Dark]

I personally prefer having my desktop pretty bare, since I like being able to see the wallpapers I use in all their glory. I just have Start Menu (Windows 10) with folders for all the games/programs I regularly use, so I can make it pop up when needed and it's out of the way when it's not needed. And then there's some programs/apps on my taskbar, generally for things like Steam, photoshop apps, etc. 

[Scrabbs]

Non cluttered, applications are there but folders are all put in misc. I need to be able to see Microsoft bliss without any interference

[Jello]

Jesus Christ. I've been using computers for almost 30 years now, and it never occurred to me to just make a "shortcuts" folder on my desktop and put all of my desktop shortcuts in it. So if I need something, open the folder. Instead of having tens of shortcuts, some of which never get used, cluttering the whole damn thing up.

 

So now instead of over thirty icons, I have My Computer, Recycle Bin, Shortcuts, Steam, Command Prompt, and Control Panel.

 

Thank you both. I feel like such a dumbass because just the other day I was looking through all the clutter on my desktop thinking "alright, which one of these do I use, which ones don't I use, which ones can I delete, which ones can I just move to start menu". Just make a folder and put them there.

 

I've been cramming things on my desktop for so many years, I never thought to pause and look at the process slightly differently.

 

 

[Dweller Dark]

11 minutes ago, Jello said:

Jesus Christ. I've been using computers for almost 30 years now, and it never occurred to me to just make a "shortcuts" folder on my desktop and put all of my desktop shortcuts in it. So if I need something, open the folder. Instead of having tens of shortcuts, some of which never get used, cluttering the whole damn thing up.

 

So now instead of over thirty icons, I have My Computer, Recycle Bin, Shortcuts, Steam, Command Prompt, and Control Panel.

 

Thank you both. I feel like such a dumbass because just the other day I was looking through all the clutter on my desktop thinking "alright, which one of these do I use, which ones don't I use, which ones can I delete, which ones can I just move to start menu". Just make a folder and put them there.

 

I've been cramming things on my desktop for so many years, I never thought to pause and look at the process slightly differently.

 

 

 

I've never done what you're talking about, but it's definitely a good way to save desktop space and have everything you don't use 24/7 compartmentalized away somewhere else. Since I have Windows 10, I figured out long ago that I could put apps/games I pinned to the start menu in folders, so everything's organized based on the genre or purpose. All I have to do is open the start menu, open the folder, and click on what I want. 

[DRM-MAN]

I go for a pretty organized layout, i have my important folders on the left side of the screen, along side my needed shortcuts, the right side of my desktop is my un-important folders, i.e pictures, text files, and un-important shortcuts.

I've been using this style since windows xp, and im never changing it.

[Lippeth]

There's the recycle bin on the bottom right, and then three useless icons in the upper left that say "This PC, 'Username' and Network" just for that 90s aesthetic. I keep all the program shortcuts I use daily on the taskbar because having a big icon with a little arrow on the desktop just bugs me for some reason like it's an imposter. For files I'll just locate them from the place they're stored in using windows explorer, because I label everything properly and intuitively, at least for my own navigation. The only practical purpose my desktop serves is as a temporary hold for sound files that I'm editing with Audacity, and then I'll move them from the desktop to their respective home immediately.

 

I have a friend who kept EVERYTHING stored in one single folder on his desktop for several years, and in one drunken moment, accidentally deleted that folder. Because it was so large, it skipped the recycle bin and just deleted everything. Plus he has a tendency to click okay at any given prompt. I don't even feel bad for him, he had it coming.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Lippeth

[Nevander]

My rule is to not have my desktop icons occupy more than 1/4th of the screen. Only use the icons that I need.

[Bauul]

Like an animal I have a total mess of a desktop. Broken shortcuts, files from a year ago I only needed once, random copies of stuff just as backups. My physical desktop is neat as a button, but I've never cared about keeping my virtual desktop clean. Once I completely run out of icon space, I dump everything into a "desktop dump" folder and start again.

 

I know, I'm a neanderthal. 

[Cruduxy Pegg]

I don't like having anything on it. I don't need many shortcuts though, the toolbar is enough for me. I've tried having a desktop full of everything before.. I don't like spending 5 mins staring at the screen to find something.

[Lippeth]

8 minutes ago, Bauul said:

My physical desktop is neat as a button

There's gotta be something to that. My physical desk is a mountain of audio equipment, cables, half empty water bottles, all with a fine layer of dust.

 

9 minutes ago, Bauul said:

I dump everything into a "desktop dump" folder and start again.

I must admit that I have several "downloads archive" folders in the deepest recesses of hard drives, but I've managed to stay on top of it for the past few years.

[45th Parrallel]

I only have the Recycle bin in the far left corner of my second screen. Anything I really need is pinned to the start menu or taskbar

[seed]

I only keep a few programs and games I commonly use, and the rest pinned on my taskbar or in Start.

[TenenteZashu]

My desktop is pretty barren, I have only half a row of apps and all the games (also non-steam ones) are in their respective folders in Documents and I run them using steam

[MattFright]

Oh i certainly like having mine all neatly organized, but after enough time i stop caring too much and my desktop becomes an absolute incoherent mess of 50+ icons. I've gotten used to it though

[UnholyShadows]

Dirty, messy and completely unorganized!  I honestly don't know how I find anything on it lol.

 

[dei_eldren]

i like my desktop with only the wallpaper.  Even got rid of the trashcan.  If i had program icons there, it'd be so messy i wouldn't find a specific one anyway.

[usernameak]

I use desktop mostly as temporary stash

[MFG38]

I have shortcuts to most of my commonly used software on the desktop, as well as folders for some assorted stuff. Relatively clutter-free with only 4 full columns on the left side.

[lognifii]

I like my wallpaper too much to clutter up my desktop so I just have a few things that I use regularly in a column on the side.

[VanaheimRanger]

I have 2 monitors.  Main one I game on is empty.  Secondary monitor has lots of icons (mostly games) and the start bar on it.

 

Primary

 

Secondary

 

5 of these games are my wife's, I'll give you 100 bonus points if you can guess which ones ;)

Edited January 26, 2021 by VanaheimRanger

[dmslr]

13 minutes ago, VanaheimRanger said:

5 of these games are my wife's, I'll give you 100 bonus points if you can guess which ones ;)

Plants, Faeria, Peggle, Bejeweled, Woolfe.

[VanaheimRanger]

3 minutes ago, dmslr said:

Plants, Faeria, Peggle, Bejeweled, Woolfe.

You win!  (She also plays Among Us a lot which is why it's right there with her games...but I play it too >.> )

[dmslr]

For some reason jewelry puzzle games are must-play for wives. My wife like to play games of this genre too. :D Sorry for generalization though.

[Doom_Dude]

I use Rocketdock for most of my icons.

[snapshot]

I'm simple, I dump everything else in local disks

 

[TheEvilGrin]

I'm part of the people who don't give a frick about the logic behind the icons' placement. I used to have links to all of my folders in the same spot, but I always confused them.

Now, even less logical : my icons are ordered by colour. On the left you have the black stuff, then blue (GZ and discord), then purple (LZ), red (PR, builder...), orange, tellow and white.

The higher you go, the more vivid the colours are. It doesn't make any sense, but I'm used to it and with dark theme and a starry sky in the background it looks nice.

[NoXion]

I have desktop icons arranged alphabetically, covering about one-sixth of my main screen, with another screen to the left which I keep blank. I have a massive collection of wallpapers which rotate once a minute.

My computer desktop is much more tidy than my real one, which as always has a lot of clutter.

[Remilia Scarlet]

No icons at all; A panel on top with Amiga-style
memory info, my tray, and my desktop switcher; A second panel on the bottom that acts kinda like AmiDock on Amiga; And my system monitor on the right edge if my second monitor. No desktop effects.

 

Super+Space brings up an application menu (Xfce's app launcher), a quirk I picked up from using Enlightenment. Alt+F1 brings up a terminal. Alt+F2 opens a run dialog.  Alt+F3 opens Emacs. 

 

And if you're curious, I use Sawfish as my window manager :-P

 

 

[Linuxmaster1992]

I use KDE plasma on Linux, set up so it looks like a combo of mac and windows. I have some desktop shortcuts and folders, but not very many. My most used programs in the application dock. There is an application menu in the top left, represented by an Arch Linux logo. Overall, very nice and clean :)

[NuMetalManiak]

Only four icons on my desktop. Most everything I have I can find with ease.