Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition نسخه متنی

Tidying Your Desktop

Over time, shortcuts tend to accumulate on your desktop. Microsoft's productivity elves have provided cleanup tools.

To arrange desktop shortcuts:

Right-click an empty area on the desktop; point to Arrange Icons By; then choose a command from the submenu (Figure 2.50 ):

Name. Sorts alphabetically by name.

Size. Sorts by file size, with the smallest first. If the shortcut points to a program, the size refers to the size of the shortcut file.

Type. Sorts by file type, which keeps files with the same file extension together (.doc for Word files or .exe for programs, for example).

Modified. Sorts by the date when the shortcut (not the original) was last modified, with the most recent first.

Show in Groups. See "Grouping Icons" in Chapter 5.

Auto Arrange. Places icons in neat columns, starting on the screen's left side. Uncheck this option to drag icons anywhere on your desktop. This option won't work if your desktop is full.

Align to Grid. Turns on an invisible grid that makes icons snap into equally spaced alignment when you move them. Uncheck this option to turn off the grid (useful only if Auto Arrange is turned off).

Show Desktop Icons. Uncheck this option to hide all desktop icons; check it to show them.

Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard. Removes unused desktop shortcuts, described next.

Tip

If your icons look grainy or badly drawn, right-click an empty area on the desktop; then choose Refresh to redisplay icons.

Virtual Desktop Manager

If you work with a crowded desktop, try organizing it with Virtual Desktop Manager. It lets you manage up to four desktops from the taskbar (a bit like having four monitors on the cheap). VDM is one of the PowerToys described in "Using the Free Utility Programs" in Chapter 6.

After installing VDM, right-click an empty area on the taskbar; then choose Toolbars > Desktop Manager. A toolbar labeled MSVDM appears on your taskbar. Use a custom keyboard shortcut or click one of the blue 1, 2, 3, or 4 buttons to switch among four virtual desktops, each having its own background and set of open programs and windows. Or click the green button to preview all four desktops. Right-click the MSVDM toolbar, and you'll see a few new VDM-specific commands atop the shortcut menu. Choose MSVDM Help for a brief tutorial.

To remove unused shortcuts:

1. Right-click an empty area on the desktop; then choose Arrange Icons By > Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard.

or

Right-click an empty area on the desktop; then choose Properties > Desktop tab > Customize Desktop > Clean Desktop Now (Figure 2.51 ).

2. Click Next to skip the Welcome page.

3. On the Shortcuts page, check the boxes of the shortcuts to remove from your desktop; then click Next (Figure 2.52 ).

4. Click Finish to confirm your choices.

The wizard doesn't actually delete the shortcuts but stores them in a folder named Unused Desktop Shortcuts on your desktop, where you can retrieve them if you need them or delete them for real.

Tips

The Desktop Cleanup Wizard removes not only your personal shortcuts, but also shortcuts that appear on all users' desktops. To check whether a shortcut is shared, right-click the icon; choose Properties; then check the Location property in the General tab. If the path contains

All Users (rather than your user name), it's a shared shortcut.

n The Desktop Cleanup Wizard appears automatically every 60 days, with a list of shortcuts that you haven't used for the past two months. Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard Every 60 Days (refer to Figure 2.51) if you don't want the wizard to run automatically.