I caught only a glimpse, but it was enough to horrify me. As an acquaintance opened a program on her laptop, I saw that her desktop was littered with files and shortcuts.

I’ve worked with other people who kept their desks tidy but filled their computer desktops with clutter. I’m not a stickler for pristine conditions, but I do hate inefficiency. With dozens of icons on the screen, there is no way to quickly find a specific file or shortcut.

If your computer desktop is full right now, I challenge you to take a few minutes to delete what you no longer need. Then if you still have many icons, organize them in folders. Right-click on a clear area of your desktop and then choose New and Folder to create new ones.

For a quick cleanup, hide your desktop icons. Right-click on a clear area of the desktop and choose Arrange Icons By or View, depending on your version of Windows. Then uncheck the line Show Desktop Icons.

What other tips do you have for making computer work more efficient?