Keep it clean
We are all guilty of doing it but do we really understand what the implications are? So what am I talking about? Cluttered desktops. In over 15 years of field support I have yet to find a workstation which does not have at least some files saved on it. At the time it makes sense to save the files there and this can be for a number of reasons; convenience, just temporary and I’ll move it later. All of these seem like good legitimate reasons at the time however they invariably are now temporary things they are left on the desktop and we just continue to work from there. Cluttered desktops can cause a number of issues both in the short term as well as in the long term.
The first issue is one of performance; that is as more and more files and shortcuts are added to a users desktop then in time this will inevitably slow the PC down. The reason for this is as that as the user minimises and maximises applications the screen must be re-drawn, now the fact is that the more information stored on the desktop the more memory will be used which in turn will steal that memory from genuine applications. It will also slow down the process of re-drawing the screen as there is much more information to render to the screen. The second issue is one of security; simply put the data on the desktop will stay on the desktop. Unless the user specifically copies the data from the desktop to the server then this information is only contained in one location and is not backed up with the rest of the server data. Now the question should be asked at this point ”Is this information important?”. The simple answer is “Of course it is” otherwise why would you have the information in the first place. In that case get it off the desktop and onto the server, once there leave it there and just work on it from the server.
Alternatively, if you are using Microsoft Small Business Server and have your “My Documents” folder redirected to the server then could move this information to the “My Documents” folder and it will be copied to the server during the “Log Off” process. This is a simple practise that could save you hours or even days of work in the event of a failed workstation. If you are still not sure how to do this then contact our team and they will be happy to help you.
