I set up a Windows PC for a friend, and he insisted on using his M$ account (bad decision). That caused the Desktop folder (not Downloads, not Documents, just the Desktop) to be stored in OneDrive. So as I tried to load his old PC’s Software hive, to extract the windows key, it crashed the PC. No problem, the original hive was still exported on the Desktop. I just rebooted into the boot stick and tried to load the hive there. After searching for the Desktop folder for 30 minutes, I finally located it in the OneDrive folder. And despite it being there, and taking up space, according to dir, it couldn’t be accessed, like wtf?
- Who wants to share the desktop, but not Downloads etc? In contrast to the other user folders, the desktop is filled with program links that won’t even work anywhere else.
- And why not make it accessible in a live boot? Like, it was obviously accessible to some degree, but not readable somehow? Wtf?
In contrast to the other user folders, the desktop is filled with program links that won’t even work anywhere else.
As someone who used to work in IT I wish that was the case. The desktop is a catch-all for basically anything that might momentarily enter a user’s field of vision.
Application shortcuts, URL shortcuts, broken application and URL shortcuts, PDFs, images, a copy of their child’s baby album, a folder that’s just called “stuff” where all their actual work is saved, seven different copies of the same recipe for homemade pasta sauce, six empty files named “New Text Document”, and a recycle bin full of things too important to delete.
But you can’t put anything anywhere else, because they “have a system.”
With the digital realm becoming increasingly important and approaching the physical realm in terms of importance and familiarity, I now consider people who use their desktop for everything to literally be hoarders. It’s mental illness. I forgive it in old people but if you grew up on computers and you live like this, this is a clinically significant unwillingness to clean up one’s personal space.
I agree with most of this, but honestly take it a step further. On my Windows machine I don’t put anything on my desktop at all, and turn desktop icons off entirely. It’s literally the worst possible place to put things that you frequently need because it’s covered up by anything you’re doing. You need at least one interaction to get there regardless, so just use the start menu.
