HOW TO... Declutter your Windows desktop for 2025
What you need: Windows 10 or 11; DesktopOK Time required: One hour
By Nik Rawlinson
You’ve probably heard the phrase, ‘tidy desk, tidy mind’. Nobody seems to know quite where it came from (we’ve searched), but the philosophy is easy to understand: if you’re not working amid piles of clutter, you can probably think more clearly and – as a result – be more productive.
This is just as true in the digital realm as it is in the physical world. The trouble is, Windows’ desktop is too convenient a place to save files you’re going to need in the near future. Why bury them several folders deep?
Well, for one thing, because your desktop can quickly get cluttered, which makes finding those files tricky. Secondly, Microsoft has gone to great lengths to give us more efficient alternatives to using the desktop as a dumping ground. Windows 10 and 11 have excellent built-in search tools, which go beyond indexing files on the basis of name alone and can pull up a list of results from within the contents of a file.
Saving files to your desktop can also slow your computer. That’s because the desktop is essentially a folder, like your Documents, Pictures and Videos directories. However, while these folders are only ever displayed when you open them, the desktop folder – being spread out across your PC – needs to be displayed and updated the whole time any part of it is in view. Granted, the effect will be minimal on a powerful computer with an SSD, but if you have an old PC with a fairly slow hard drive and a crammed desktop, it can really start to suffer.
So, with the new year upon us, what better time could there be to knock your desktop into shape? Windows has several built-in clean-up tools that can help, while any gaps can be plugged using free software.