Downloaded files should all go to your desktop first
One day I went to clean up my folders, and I got to this location : My Documents >> My Received Files.
Oh my God waht a mess. That’s the folder where all your file transmissions from MSN comes into. And since that folder is rarely visible unless you navigate to that section, and because most of the transmissions are simple pictures and what not that you click and open from your convo window and forget about, it just piles up and up!
Also any other downloading areas such as the “Shared Items” folder (which Limewire designates by default for all downloaded files) and “My Downloads” (which I believe was created by Download Accelerator Pro) end up in the same fate. And any other software that download things for you always have their own designated folders somewhere.
And then the answer came from FireFox. By default, it is set to send all the downloaded files to the desktop!!!
This is a great idea, if you think about it. As long as you’re like me, who keeps the desktop clean of all files unless it’s necessary, this is the perfect solution. I’ve experimented with this for a few days now and it’s going well. Because the desktop files are always visible, I always clean it up right away and sort them and this is what I do :
- Any items that are not important and should be deleted right away (silly photos or quick notes), I delete them.
- Any items that need to be stored, I move them to the right folder.
- Any files that I need to take a careful look at(such as design instructions or reviews, or text to put into design), I leave it on the desktop, so I remind myself every time I see my desktop.
I switched the settings of all my software to send all downloaded items to the desktop (Limewire, BitTorrent, MSN Messenger etc.) and now I finally have control over my transmitted files, and the result was a clean concise way of managing my files.
I strongly recommend this to anybody that uses their computers heavily, and needs to be organized - this is the best way to go. Many software companies are realizing this and this comes as a default setting already.
Yup i’ve been experimenting the same thing..
unless you’re disciplined enough to empty your “downloaded files” type of folders every week or so, that’s a much better way to be. It’s like putting items on a pin-up board, so you can always see them and sort through them.
i have about… 400 files in that folder right now??? haha i may as well just delete them all!
Haha once you rip through those files you can try my method and see how well it goes!
Shortcut folders on the desktop make life so much easier. I made some folders like My Documents\Projects and C:\Software\ and alt+dragged them to the desktop to create shortcuts. I choose some original icons and whenever I am done with something I have been working at on the desktop, I just drag it over the appropriate shortcut icon to move it to that folder. Then I can forget about it until I need the file again. I actually started doing this since I was confined to 192 MB of RAM, but I stuck with it because it was a good habit. It is also good for privacy if you present from a data projector.
you DO know that the more items on your Desktop means more computer resources are constantly being used to show those items as large desktop 3d icons. Also, I save more than enough crap to my desktop alone, I would HATE my computer always doing that by default.
The theory is that having your desktop get cluttered will be an incentive for you to clean it up… rather than have the file sit around in some folder taking up hard drive space.
By the way Jeff, your comments field acts oddly in FireFox when using tab to navigate.
That coudl provide as an incentive to keep your computer clean of files and be more organized. TO prevent slow-downs, you get to it right away instead of letting it sit there for weeks or months..
which is exasctly what happened to my 400+ files in my received folder…
Jeff described exactly the same evolution I made a while back with the messy neglected folder. That filthy animal of a folder got on my nerves so I put all the downloads, like Jeff said, on my desktop.
Now it’s almost as bad as a game of tetris. All those downloaded files coming in so fast you have to find a way to put them in there place. If you have a packrat mentality you’re in trouble! 95% of the downloads should be garbaged, where are you going to find the time to enjoy your files all over again?
When you have them old baby boomers learning the internet and how to download, they’ll never junk anything! “I’ll save this somewhere just in case” Haha They never through anything away. It’s like their dirty garages!
I’ve been doing that for years. It is the only way I can remember to sort through them.
eh. i should have talked to you years ago!
I’m finally organized now.