Desktop and performance?

Question

Does having a clear desktop help with computer performance?

if so, why is that?

Answer 1

Very little. Maybe a microsecond longer to refresh the icon cache. It helps to turn of the XP teletubby look and revert to the default 2000 look and then go into services and kill the 'theme service'. That's just useless eye candy.

To truly keep your machine in peak condition run ccleaner once in a while: http://www.ccleaner.com/ , use this guide to kill any service that you don't need: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm , run a decent antivirus and antispyware package. Defrag once in a while if you move a lot of data, otherwise, don't bother. Grab a copy of autoruns http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/Autoruns.mspx and check what programs get run on startup. Many are superfluous, however, you have to figure out which one is what first. Things like 'quicktime task' are a no-brainer, but there are some items that are a little obscure. In general, the path to the executable will help you figure out what it is. If these last two sentences sounded a little cryptic, they will make better sense when you run the program.

Answer 2

This always seems a question that throws up differences of opinion. Depending on the amount of icons and the quality of the picture on the desktop then it can take time for them to open if you have a very slow computer. If microsoft thought there wasnt an issue with too many dekstop icons then I dont think they would have built in a desktop clean up wizard. I dont like too many icons on the desktop and I use a blank desktop just because I prefer it. Its your own choice though.

***The Windows desktop picture and too many icons can also slow down your computer. If you don't need a desktop picture, remove it by right-clicking an empty place on the desktop and choose Properties —> Desktop tab and select the None option. Select a colour for the desktop, if desired, then click Apply.

Desktop icons take time to display and you can speed up your computer by removing unwanted icons. Right-click the desktop, choose Properties —> Desktop tab and click Customize Desktop —> Clean Desktop Now. This wizard moves unused desktop icons to a folder so they no longer consume resources. You can set the Desktop Cleanup Wizard to run at regular intervals from the Desktop tab so you'll be prompted to clean up your unused desktop items regularly. Alternatively, if you want your icons available, but don't need them to always be visible, hide them by right-clicking the desktop, choose Arrange Icons By —> Hide Desktop Icons. They'll remain hidden from view until you choose to view them again by choosing Arrange Icons By —> Show Desktop Icons.***

Answer 3

no
desk top icons take up very litte space on hard drive if that is correct word
you can check the space an icon requires
by right clicking on icon
choose properties
choose general

Answer 4

The desk top uses very little system resources so it really doesn't affect performance.