Which programs will you be removing from your right-click menu? And also, how many of your entries are for applications that didn't give provide an option to stop them from being added to the list?Įditors' note, February 19, 2015: This How To post was originally published on July 26, 2012, and has been updated to include new information. Disabling will leave the shortcut available for later use if you change your mind. Step 3: Decide whether you want to delete or disable the entry. Tip: If you want to select multiple lines, just hold down the Ctrl key while you click each entry. Step 2: Next, click the tab for the Context Menu and select an entry you want to edit. Step 1: Open CCleaner and click on the blue toolbox on the left-hand side labeled Tools, then click on the button labeled Startup. If you don't have it installed, it's time to grab a copy of CCleaner that will serve you well during the foreseeable future. Step 1: Press Windows+F to go to the search box in the Start Menu, type taskbar and click Taskbar and Navigation in the results. Step 2: In the pop-up window titled Taskbar and Start Menu Properties, choose Auto-hide the taskbar and tap OK. So if you're tired of having a right-click menu that's just too bloated, here's how to remedy the issue:Īlready have CCleaner? Great! Just make sure it's the latest version before you skip to the steps or you won't have the necessary utility options. Step 1: Right-click the taskbar on the desktop, and choose Properties in the context menu. Additionally, it's much better (and likely safer) than manually digging through the registry. This is useful for those apps that either didn't give you a choice in the matter, or those that used some sneakiness to make the option go unnoticed.
Supposedly, this is "for your convenience," but most of us know what's convenient and what's just more bloat for Windows.ĬCleaner released a recent update that added a feature that allows you to clean out random application shortcuts from the right-click menu. Whether an application cleans out junk files, duplicates, or other nasties, a lot of the time it wants to take a spot in your right-click menu.
Pro Tip: While you’re here, please check out our quite extensive Mac help library.Lots of tools claim to be useful for your PC. Once I’ve opted for Clean Up, however, that jumble is instantly improved:Īhhhhh so much better. The difference is that Clean Up cleans things up based on how they’re already on the desktop, Clean Up By reorganizes just this once and Sort By continually reorganizes which can be annoying if you move a file or photo to the desktop and it suddenly zips to a different spot. Or you can do what I usually opt for: “ Clean Up“. Instead, move up to “ Clean Up By” and you can choose one of the options shown: Sort by name or type and that goes out the window. Sort by can be annoying, though, as she might have an organizational strategy already, with letters on the top right and photos on the top left. The specific value that’s useful to help your Mom avoid having icons atop other icons in the future is “ Snap to Grid“, which I recommend as a choice. You can see here that I’ve chosen “ Sort By“.
You’ll pop up a menu with a number of interesting choices: That makes my fingers twitch just seeing a mess like this! There are a lot of ways to clean things up, but let’s just Control-Click on the desktop itself (click on a blank spot, not where there’s an icon or picture).
Once you’ve pruned it down to just those apps, shortcuts, files and folders that should be on the desktop, it can still be a pretty big mess. As a bonus, if she has a lot of files and folders on the desktop, her system will actually run faster once you clean things up!
Subfolders for organization make things so much easier to manage, backup, copy and delete when you’re done with them.
Often when I see someone with a zillion desktop icons on a Mac or Windows system it’s because they don’t use folders and are afraid that they’ll “lose” things if they aren’t on the desktop. #JustSayingĪnyway, back to your Mom’s iMac! What I’d recommend is actually asking her if she understands how to create and use folders. You can be smart and productive and neat. I know, there are some research studies that ostensibly prove a messy desk is an indication of a brilliant mind, but I’m skeptical. I mean, it’s like a real desk – spending the extra time to keep it clean and neat is so beneficial for your mental health and calm! ? And thank goodness: I too hate when I work on someone’s computer and their app and file icons are all over the place. Step 3: Create a folder with any name you like, select the new folder and click the open button, you. Step 2: Right-click anywhere on the taskbar, and then choose Toolbar->New Toolbar. Step 1: Right-click on the taskbar and uncheck lock the taskbar.
As an operating system that’s had desktop icons forever, MacOS X has a number of different tools for organizing and cleaning up your desktop icons. With just a little bit of work, you can center the taskbar icons in windows 10 easily.