Desktop Question
- Thread starter davesnow
- Start date
cascaderailroad
New member
I have moved most of my un-needed, seldom used, icons and folders, inside a folder I created in my PC Documents, labeled "Desktop Shortcuts"
I regularly clean out my PC by "deleting History", and "deleting Recent Items"
FREE Glary utilities does a good job defraging, and other things ... but still I see little increased performance improvement, even when I sent all my documents, pictures, music, videos to an external HD ... although it did free up allot of disc space, as I only had less than 1GB free disk space
I regularly clean out my PC by "deleting History", and "deleting Recent Items"
FREE Glary utilities does a good job defraging, and other things ... but still I see little increased performance improvement, even when I sent all my documents, pictures, music, videos to an external HD ... although it did free up allot of disc space, as I only had less than 1GB free disk space
Last edited:
ministerfarrigut
Owner of Keaton's Trainz
I have absolutely no desktop icons beside the Trainz icon and the Recyle bin, but my computer is still slow. I don't think it's what you have on your desktop but what you have in the actual computer itself. Trainz 2010 uses 30 gigs on the hard drive and my PC handles about 70, but I'm down to 7.69 gigs on my harddrive. It's mostly from stuff Ive downloaded onto the simulator.
Yes, the amount of shortcuts on your desktop has some influence on the speed of your PC. I would not call it big, but some for sure.
Why?
At startup it needs to figure out all the icons related to the shortcuts. To translate it to Trainz terms: Compare loading only 1 image (your desktop background) version loading 200 images because you happen to have 200 shortcuts on your desktop.
After that, it keeps those either in memory or has to look them up every time it needs to show your desktop; not sure which of the two, but in both cases it is bad for performance because it either needs to spend time looking them up again or it occupies memory that you could use for other stuff.
Big impact? I seriously doubt it. Impact? Yes.
If you have a serious PC, I doubt you will ever notice it. Low-end laptop? Probably.
Why?
At startup it needs to figure out all the icons related to the shortcuts. To translate it to Trainz terms: Compare loading only 1 image (your desktop background) version loading 200 images because you happen to have 200 shortcuts on your desktop.
After that, it keeps those either in memory or has to look them up every time it needs to show your desktop; not sure which of the two, but in both cases it is bad for performance because it either needs to spend time looking them up again or it occupies memory that you could use for other stuff.
Big impact? I seriously doubt it. Impact? Yes.
If you have a serious PC, I doubt you will ever notice it. Low-end laptop? Probably.
I seem to recall that Dave has a fairly powerful rig, so the performance impact is likely to be unnoticeable.
However, behaviourally, it takes time for people to locate and double-click on frequently-used icons on a crowded desktop monitor, which is why I recommend my clients to create single-click Taskbar icons on their desktop for their most-frequently used programs.
Taskbar icons can also be invoked by a Windows Key + (Number) keyboard shortcut based on its location/ rank along the taskbar strip, which, when memorised, speeds up frequently-used operations/ application-starts even more.
For example, I have my Snipping Tool icon at the 5th spot on the Taskbar after the Task View icon. Hitting the Windows + 5 key combo opens up the snipping tool ready to take a screen-grab in any other program I currently have running.
Likewise, T:ANE can be invoked by using the Windows key + 9 key (since my taskbar icon for T:ANE Launcher is in the 9th spot along the bottom strip).
So, even whilst T:ANE might be in Full Screen mode, I can still invoke the snipping tool to do a screen grab in one of my sessions or Surveyor operations by using the Windows Key + 5 keyboard shortcut. (Better than simply pressing Print Screen, since I can choose the capture area I need with the Snipping Tool, whereas I have to post-edit it later with another image editing program otherwise).
However, behaviourally, it takes time for people to locate and double-click on frequently-used icons on a crowded desktop monitor, which is why I recommend my clients to create single-click Taskbar icons on their desktop for their most-frequently used programs.
Taskbar icons can also be invoked by a Windows Key + (Number) keyboard shortcut based on its location/ rank along the taskbar strip, which, when memorised, speeds up frequently-used operations/ application-starts even more.
For example, I have my Snipping Tool icon at the 5th spot on the Taskbar after the Task View icon. Hitting the Windows + 5 key combo opens up the snipping tool ready to take a screen-grab in any other program I currently have running.
Likewise, T:ANE can be invoked by using the Windows key + 9 key (since my taskbar icon for T:ANE Launcher is in the 9th spot along the bottom strip).
So, even whilst T:ANE might be in Full Screen mode, I can still invoke the snipping tool to do a screen grab in one of my sessions or Surveyor operations by using the Windows Key + 5 keyboard shortcut. (Better than simply pressing Print Screen, since I can choose the capture area I need with the Snipping Tool, whereas I have to post-edit it later with another image editing program otherwise).
Last edited:
Christopher824
CDETrainz.com
A lot of it might depend on how much memory your desktop is using, and what OS system and hardware you have. When you start your computer, it has to load any images, and file architecture, including the background, from your desktop, into memory. On old XP computers, a big background image, and lots of desktop clutter could consume a lot of your usable RAM. On newer Win 10 systems with 8 to 16 gig RAM, I really don't think there is much impact.
My Laptop with TS12 is Win7, Pentium M, with only 4 gig RAM and I try to keep it stripped clean as possible, and I still get low frame rates and stuttering, my TANE laptop is Win 10, i7 and 16 gig, and the desktop has all sorts of junk on it, folders with lots of folders in them, maybe 200 short cuts, and multiple 'Widgets' running, and it runs Trainz nice with no stuttering at all.
My Laptop with TS12 is Win7, Pentium M, with only 4 gig RAM and I try to keep it stripped clean as possible, and I still get low frame rates and stuttering, my TANE laptop is Win 10, i7 and 16 gig, and the desktop has all sorts of junk on it, folders with lots of folders in them, maybe 200 short cuts, and multiple 'Widgets' running, and it runs Trainz nice with no stuttering at all.
Dave,
Your tech is correct. Unlike other folders on your system, the desktop has special properties and additions to it by its very nature and having a lot of items on the desktop can cause a drop in performance.
For all the stuff I use frequently, I put it on the taskbar, and for other stuff I use more frequently, I put into a folder in my Documents with a short-cut on my desktop, called Desktop Apps. Other than that folder and 3 or 4 text documents most likely created when I was saving and pasting data, there's nothing else on my desktop.
Your tech is correct. Unlike other folders on your system, the desktop has special properties and additions to it by its very nature and having a lot of items on the desktop can cause a drop in performance.
For all the stuff I use frequently, I put it on the taskbar, and for other stuff I use more frequently, I put into a folder in my Documents with a short-cut on my desktop, called Desktop Apps. Other than that folder and 3 or 4 text documents most likely created when I was saving and pasting data, there's nothing else on my desktop.
Last edited:
Your local tech was referring to your work - not the performance of the desktop PC.
By having lots of icons and folders on the desktop you are making it difficult to find things. You spend a lot of time scanning the items to find what you need, and you often select the wrong item accidentally.
If you organise your desktop into a smaller number of items, probably by putting things into subfolders, then your PC will be easier to use and your work will flow much faster.
Unless your tech was referring to active components such as some widgets that access the 'net for information (like the weather), then the amount of stuff on the desktop will have absolutely no impact on the speed of your computer.
This was an issue before Windows 7, according to this article here
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...formance/d25dd745-1b6a-4bdd-97c4-41a462987fac
However, I have found even with Windows 7 and up there is a big difference in performance due to the reasons I mentioned. In this article it's recommended that shortcuts be placed to stuff in a folder or folders rather than be directly placed on the desktop due to stuff possibly getting corrupted. Again it's most likely due to the dynamic refreshing of the desktop compared to the other folders on the system and is something I have witnessed myself on some systems I have serviced.
This article here eludes to the performance increase as I have seen by removing stuff from the desktop.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...computer/2999b104-274d-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5
The comments are interesting on this article as well, which again points to what Dave's tech guy said.
From someone at Microsoft:
Last edited:
"I do not seen any evidence of storing data files on the dektop slowing performance" doesn't read to me as supporting the claim. That article has no reference to pre/post W7.
Nothing definitive there at all. The only comment is what I said - it helps your own organisation to keep the desktop clean.
Raymond Chen is probably the best source you can get for inside information. His comments make it quite clear that the additional processing applies only to startup - "Mind you, you are staring at the spinning dots while all this is going on". For modern machines with more than one core it is not noticeable, and does not slow down the computer other than at that moment.
The story has been promulgated through organisations that are trying to improve the PC practices of their employees. The technicians who configure PCs and distribute fixed desktop configurations to employees need an explanation as to why the desktop has been locked down. It is easier to say 'Because putting junk on the desktop slows your machine" than "Company policy -we are trying to control how you organise your work".
The desktop is just another Explorer folder with a custom configuration. Apart from that configuration at startup, it works exactly like any other Explorer folder.
Of course, if you are referring to the task bar icons then that's a different story - because each icon on the task bar is potentially a service or application that is running in the background, and that is affecting performance. Same thing for widgets.
Yes that pain in the you know what thing... I forgot about that and for me it did nothing because I never had anything on my desktop to clean up!
Sure Raymond Chen is correct on the startup, but seems to forget about performance, which was definitely affected by having too many documents on the desktop. The icon caches and file links, especially if they are to network drives, will definitely slow down performance. I have also witnessed a big improvement in performance after removing junk from the desktop and placing these shortcuts and documents in a folder linked rather than on the desktop.
The issue is not as bad as it used to be because we now have SSDs, faster CPUs, a more optimized operating system, and more powerful GPUs all of which take less time to process the data which once was slogged through. Again, as I was told from another Microsoft guy, that the desktop is different due to the way it's referenced. It is a folder and it exists as part of your user profile, but that's it as far as a normal file folder goes. When you reference the folder via an interface such as Explorer, you get the regular folder attributes. This is obvious when you right mouse-button click after opening up the desktop within File Explorer. However, there is another side of the desktop, which is different. The folder is also referenced in the registry to such things as power management, via the display properties and this is in addition to the regular file properties, though you'll notice that the properties for that folder are missing when you attempt to access that while on the desktop, however, that is there if you go through Explorer. You tell me what other regular folder as this capabilities?
And as much as it may seem to be only at startup, if the system is not well optimized, or needs some cleaning up you will see a slow drag in performance on the desktop each and every time the display needs to refresh the icons whether that be because an application was closed or minimized, or if the desktop is first loaded.
As far as consistency across orgs and clean desktops goes, I've never run into that. I did, however, have to have a company logo and picture on my laptop while at Oracle. We had a choice of one of Larry's big schooners or racing catamarans. Nice boats, but the big sails got in the way. I did use my desktop at work for holding temporary copies of various log files, which did not have any particular application associated with them before I filed them away. These white page icons would disappear on the sails if I put them in the wrong place! I spent more time searching for the files than I did actually reading them!
From the users I have supported, I agree with you on this. They also like to put stuff on top of their computers and in the old days on top of their monitors as well. There's nothing like spending 20 minutes removing knickknacks, pictures, trinkets, and baubles before accessing the machine. Then once the hardware is updated or replaced, waiting forever for the machine to startup due to all the junk in the machine, and then spending another 15 minutes trying to find something on the desktop.
Speaking of desktops and startup items...
Many years ago a user had an old Apple Macintosh. This machine would take a solid 20 minutes to start up as it loaded every possible extension he had on the system. When the inevitable came along and he was laid-off, another Mac guru took over his machine and removed or disabled nearly all these items from starting up and it made the world of difference. When the first guy needed support, I dreaded visiting with him not because he was grumpy or a know-it-all. It was because working with this machine was a painfully dragged out ordeal.
Nux_Vomica
New member
Put one folder on the desktop and put all your desktop icons in the folder.
Yup. That's what I've done since Windows 8.x.
That's cheating!
The people I'm talking about are the terrified P.A.'s of terrifying CEO's making presentations at corporate meetings. They have every Powerpoint presentation from the last ten years on the desktop of their IBM Thinkpads just in case it might be needed.
Mick
PS Sorry about all these irrelevant posts, I just got a new toy and can't stop playing with it. An RCA Cambio 2-in-1 tablet for sixty bucks. Amazing!
Hi everybody.
Welcome to the mobile world Mick hope you thourghly enjoy it. Like you I had a Amazon Echo given to me as a present at Christmas and I have not been able to stop " messing around with it" ever since. It's not exactly a mobile device but as you state modern IT technology can be amazing. I have now got the echo controling all the lights in the house by using Phillips hue light bulbs and me giving it voice commands.
Driving the wife mad (LOL)
Bill
Back to topic !
Welcome to the mobile world Mick hope you thourghly enjoy it. Like you I had a Amazon Echo given to me as a present at Christmas and I have not been able to stop " messing around with it" ever since. It's not exactly a mobile device but as you state modern IT technology can be amazing. I have now got the echo controling all the lights in the house by using Phillips hue light bulbs and me giving it voice commands.
Driving the wife mad (LOL)
Bill
Back to topic !
Last edited: