I’ve seen many users whose Desktops are covered with dozens (if not hundreds) of files and folders. I’ve seen many users whose Desktops have so much crud on them you can’t distinguish what their beautiful Desktop picture is. And I’ve seen users with overrun Desktops accidentally drag multiple files to the Trash when they mean to only drag one.

I hate the Desktop. I hate the way icons on the Desktop don’t stay where you put them, no matter what you do. Switch resolutions one lousy time and your neatly arranged icons are sprayed all over the Desktop. Or, since I have two monitors, all over two Desktops.

I hate the way icons are hard to see on top of my beautiful Desktop pictures.

And I really hate how I sometimes select one or more files accidentally, and they get dragged to the Trash right along with the disk icon I was dragging to the Trash.

The answer, at least for me, is simple. I don’t use the Desktop for anything except pictures. My Desktop is naked, save for a single folder which I call "Desktop-Ish." Anything that would have gone on the Desktop goes in this folder.

Why? Well, for one thing, changing resolutions or playing games doesn’t mess up Desktop-Ish in the least. I can move icons around to my heart’s desire, and they’ll all still be where I put them next time I look. (Add Unsanity’s Labels haxie and the Desktop-Ish folder becomes even more useful for organizing files and folders…)

I suppose it takes me an extra click every time I want to put something in Desktop-Ish instead of on the Desktop, but that’s more than offset by the time I don’t spend rearranging icons or searching for files I’ve accidentally trashed.

So today’s tip is: If the Desktop bugs you, quit using it and use a folder instead (you don’t have to call yours "Desktop-Ish" but it helps.