Mom Says to Tidy Up Your Desktop

By Wayne Maruna

Computers have changed the way we get our news, weather, and sports.  They’ve changed the way we communicate with family and friends, the way we entertain ourselves, and the way we do research, going far beyond what we could have done a generation ago even with a full set of encyclopedias. 

Yet for all their benefits, computers have also provided a whole new set of annoyances in our increasingly technological world.  So today, for all those still running Windows XP, I’m going to help you get rid of one of those annoyances that circles back around six times a year.

With the advent of XP, Microsoft decided to include something called the Desktop Cleanup Wizard.  It’s designed to help you remove infrequently used icons from your desktop (computer screen).  It’s the equivalent of mom telling you to pick up your clothes from your bedroom floor.  In this case, if you don’t do what mom says, she’ll come back around in 60 days and remind you to do it again.

If you key “Desktop Cleanup Wizard” into a search engine, you will find more links to articles on how to disable the wizard than you will find articles on how to use the blasted thing.  Microsoft must have gotten the hint, because they removed it from XP’s successor, Windows Vista.

Many times I’ve been at my XP computer and seen a yellow balloon pop up telling me I have unused icons on my desktop.  At that point, I mumble at the computer and click the balloon to close it.  The really annoying part is that about a minute later, the same balloon with the same message pops up again.  I’m picturing mom sticking her head back into my bedroom and saying “I thought I told you to clean up this mess!”  Dealing with the cleanup wizard is easier than dealing with mom, because I just have to close the balloon again.  But 60 days later, that balloon would be back again. 

Ha – not anymore! The secret is to right click on any open part of the desktop and choose Properties.  Then click on the Desktop tab.  Within that tab, click on the ‘Customize Desktop’ option.  That opens another window and puts you on the ‘General’ tab, where you will find the Desktop Cleanup Wizard.  Simply uncheck the box next to the option to ‘Run Desktop Wizard every 60 days’ and you will have six fewer annoyances per year.

I had a call not long ago from a gentleman who decided to let the desktop cleanup wizard perform its tidying task.  As such things go, it was not long after that this fellow’s wife was asking him where some of her icons went.  Uh oh!  So our caller wanted to know how to get those icons back….and quick!  OK, easy enough.  When the wizard removes those icons, it creates a folder on the desktop called ‘Unused Icons’.  Think of it as mom’s laundry hamper.  All our beleaguered friend had to do was open that folder, find the missing icons, then click on them and drag them back to the desktop.  The analogy kind of breaks down there, because I can’t imagine mom having me take clothes out of the hamper and throw them back on the floor, but you get the picture.  The good news is the marriage was saved!