On 04/09/2012, at 2:30 PM, Ronda Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Peter H, > > This App might be one you would like to 'try out' :-) > Desktop Tidy lets you hide and manage desktop files > /Quote > "I like my desktop neat and tidy—not only does it look better, it keeps my > iMac running more smoothly. I like it even more when things get cleaned up > without my having to lift a finger, and Desktop Tidy (Mac App Store link) > does just that. This handy utility tidies up your Mac’s desktop, keeping it > free of clutter. It stores all the cleaned-up desktop files and folders in a > hidden Shadow Desktop, which you can access from the menu bar or in the > Finder." > > To read more go here: > > <http://www.macworld.com/article/1168312/desktop_tidy_lets_you_hide_and_manage_desktop_files.html#lsrc.nl_mwgems_h_crawl> > > And here: > > "Desktop Tidy includes a ton of customization features. Sure, it stashes your > files away in your Library folder where Spotlight won't index them (and > Finder likes to hide the Library folder by default these days), but that's > part of the beauty of the app. Using the menu bar, you'll easily see what > files were sent over, make them come back, or search and organize them on the > fly" > > /End Quotes > > <http://www.tuaw.com/2012/08/17/friday-favorite-desktop-tidy/> > >
As you have pointed out previously, it's better to keep a clean desktop than to pretend to keep a clean desktop, but for many of us this can be an agonising task. The previous point of discussion, Shade, does nothing to help in this regard, but it does have a use on "messy" laptops which are used for presentation purposes. An embarrassing disaster can be hidden with the simply click of a Menu Bar icon. Desktop Tidy, on the other hand, actually seems to have potential as a useful tool. For me dropping things on the Desktop for ready reference is just a bad habit. My problem is neglecting to go around and clean up when I'm finished a particular exercise. For many people I know however, their Desktop is their filing system "because they know where everything is". I find that generally these people cannot be talked into a different way of thinking. Desktop Tidy might be a starting point. As you know, the main problem with a messy desktop is that it really does have a telling effect on performance. When OS X displays the Desktop, every item has to be processed in some way before it can be displayed, so the more items you have there, the longer it can take to finish displaying them all. This was brought home to me several years ago when I visited the home of a client who was complaining that his Mac has slowed to the point where it was essentially unusable. It didn't take me long to discover the problem: he had well over 600 items on his desktop! When OS X runs out of space to display so many items on the Desktop, it starts "piling them up" in one spot, typically in the top righthand corner (his eMac's 1024 x 768 display had enough room to display maybe 40 separate items). Essentially, the Mac was waiting for all of these icons to be completely drawn and displayed before it could do anything else, and because they were all piled up in one corner, it was not obvious to the user that this was in fact the problem. Desktop Tidy sounds like the ideal solution to that particular problem! I'll definitely look more closely at it. Cheers, Peter -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
