The Windows desktop comprises the large background image along with the icons that are displayed behind any open Windows, but excludes the taskbar. In terms of PC speed the number of icons on your desktop is unlikely to make a significant difference to performance.
However, it would be wrong to say that it had absolutely no impact at all since everything that “appears” on the screen is represented by an image, and these images, including the background image on the desktop, do take up memory. So it follows that more images on your desktop mean more images stored in memory, which in turn mean less memory available for other applications.
Icon file sizes are pretty small so you would probably need a few hundred of them to take up even 1MB of memory; add to this another couple of megabytes for the background image on your desktop and you have a total of, say, 3MBs taken up by your desktop. But your PC will probably have at least 1GB of RAM (ie 1000MBs of RAM) and so you can see that there is very little chance of even the most cluttered desktop having any impact on overall PC performance.
By contrast to the desktop, the number of applications that load at start-up can have a big impact on your computer’s performance, either by making your PC take longer to boot, or by running in the background and using up memory. Applications are set to launch on start-up either: because they are essential utilities which need to run at all times in order to perform their function (this class of application might include security tools such as virus scanners or firewalls); or because they will inevitably be used in the course of using the computer (for example a word processor or an email package) and so it makes sense to make them immediately available at the outset.
As you install trial and full versions of applications, over time, the ranks of useful applications, worthy of their place in the start-up process, can be bloated by a number of forgotten or unnecessary programs. You can get an idea of which applications start-up automatically by looking at the icons listed in the notification area of the taskbar (ie, assuming a standard taskbar layout, the area on the bottom right of your screen, which includes the clock).
Alternatively you can view an authoritative list of auto-start applications using the System Configuration Utility. This tool also allows you to remove applications from the list of auto-start programs. To access the System Configuration Utility access the Start menu and type “msconfig” (in the text entry field at the bottom of the menu that pops up) and click Enter. Then select the “Startup” tab from the application Window that appears. Here you will see a full list of all the auto-start applications and can disable any one of them by unselecting the tick box next to each program.
However, it would be wrong to say that it had absolutely no impact at all since everything that “appears” on the screen is represented by an image, and these images, including the background image on the desktop, do take up memory. So it follows that more images on your desktop mean more images stored in memory, which in turn mean less memory available for other applications.
Icon file sizes are pretty small so you would probably need a few hundred of them to take up even 1MB of memory; add to this another couple of megabytes for the background image on your desktop and you have a total of, say, 3MBs taken up by your desktop. But your PC will probably have at least 1GB of RAM (ie 1000MBs of RAM) and so you can see that there is very little chance of even the most cluttered desktop having any impact on overall PC performance.
By contrast to the desktop, the number of applications that load at start-up can have a big impact on your computer’s performance, either by making your PC take longer to boot, or by running in the background and using up memory. Applications are set to launch on start-up either: because they are essential utilities which need to run at all times in order to perform their function (this class of application might include security tools such as virus scanners or firewalls); or because they will inevitably be used in the course of using the computer (for example a word processor or an email package) and so it makes sense to make them immediately available at the outset.
As you install trial and full versions of applications, over time, the ranks of useful applications, worthy of their place in the start-up process, can be bloated by a number of forgotten or unnecessary programs. You can get an idea of which applications start-up automatically by looking at the icons listed in the notification area of the taskbar (ie, assuming a standard taskbar layout, the area on the bottom right of your screen, which includes the clock).
Alternatively you can view an authoritative list of auto-start applications using the System Configuration Utility. This tool also allows you to remove applications from the list of auto-start programs. To access the System Configuration Utility access the Start menu and type “msconfig” (in the text entry field at the bottom of the menu that pops up) and click Enter. Then select the “Startup” tab from the application Window that appears. Here you will see a full list of all the auto-start applications and can disable any one of them by unselecting the tick box next to each program.
