Computer and Web Articles

Are you, dear reader, by any chance one of those poor souls whose computer desktop is cluttered with assorted icons, with things you’ve never clicked before, with things you’ve clicked before but never want to click again?

And, by any chance, are you one of those poor souls who’s scared to drag any of those icons over into your Recycle Bin because you fear such an action might delete something very, very important?

I’m here to help. Let’s look at all those icons on your Desktop together, shall we?

OK, first of all, we have the icons that you click on regularly and that you like very much: Internet Explorer, perhaps My Documents or Outlook Express, etc. Good. Let’s leave those guys alone as they’re doing their job well and taking you straight to your favorite programs when you click on them.

Now, take a close look at one of the icons you never touch. Look closely in the lower right-hand corner. Is there a white box containing a little black arrow pointing up/right? There is? Ah-ha! You’ve found what’s called a shortcut!

I like to compare shortcuts to those sticky-notes my friend leaves around her house to remind herself where she’s left things. “KEYS ARE BY REFRIGERATOR” or “LEFT SHOES IN GARAGE TO DRY.”

These sticky-notes point you directly to what you want … yet if you toss one in the garbage, the main object (keys, shoes, whatever) doesn’t disappear along with it.

In the same vein, all those icons on your computer desktop are just shortcuts to programs sitting deeper inside your computer. Quick-clicks, if you will. My question to you today is this: If you never click them, why have them cluttering up your desktop?

Today, I give you permission to drag any icons that you never use over to your Recycle Bin - as long as they have the shortcut mark (white box with black arrow). No more clutter! Clean up your desktop! Don’t be afraid to toss those shortcuts; remember you’re not deleting anything more than a digital “quick-click sticky-note.”

Now that things are a bit tidier, are you sitting there thinking something along the lines of “Gosh, it sure would be nice if I could have a shortcut to my XYZ program sitting right here on my desktop so that I don’t have to click through 5 folders each time I want to open it?”

This is quite easy to do, of course.

Assuming you’re using Windows XP, whenever you find an item for which you’d like to have a shortcut (”quick-click”) on your desktop, just right-click on the icon or program/filename text, select “Send To,” then select “Desktop (create shortcut).”

And “poof,” a shortcut to that document/program/file is now sitting on your desktop with the little telltale arrow mark. Then, when you tire of it or no longer use it, just toss it in the Recycle Bin.

Do you feel empowered? Did you learn something new here today? Hope so. If not, then stop complaining and send me an e-mail with suggestions on what you’d like to learn about.