How to Disable the Annoying Desktop Cleanup Feature

Whenever you have mutiple shortcuts on your desktop (as I do) Windows sometimes suggests that you need to clean up your desktop because some shortcuts have not been used in over 60 days. I think it’s very annoying when ever I boot up and I’m prompted to remove my ‘old/unused’ shortcuts, so below I have outlined the steps to disable this feature as well as a visual tutorial. Information of this feature is outlined below. As always comments/suggestions are welcome.

To stop the wizard from automatically running every 60 days:

1. Right-click on your Desktop, from the menu click on Properties.

2. When the Display Properties dialog box opens click on the Desktop tab.

3. Click Customize Desktop to open the Desktop Items dialog box.

4. Click to clear the Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days check box.

5. Click OK twice to close the dialog boxes.

Note: If after disable the automatic cleanup you would like to run the Desktop Cleanup Wizard manually click on Clean Desktop Now on the Desktop Items dialog box.

"Windows XP includes the Desktop Cleanup Wizard, which keeps track of your usage of the icons on your desktop and periodically offers to remove the icons you have not recently used. Some of the icons are on the desktop because you created them to provide a shortcut method of opening a program or document. Some icons may be on the desktop because a software installation program placed them there.

The Desktop Cleanup Wizard runs every 60 days. It checks the last accessed date of the desktop shortcuts and displays a list of all the icons, with a check mark next to the name of each icon that has not been used in 60 days. You can deselect any icon you want to keep on the desktop, and the Wizard removes the selected icons.

The icons are not deleted, they are moved to a folder and you can put them back on the desktop if you want. The folder that is automatically created the first time the Wizard removes icons is C:Documents and SettingsUserNameDesktopUnused Desktop Shortcuts." Decription Via Microsoft’s Website