Been mentioned, but f.lux warrants repeating - ideal for the night owls among us.
Karen's replicator - nothing special, but a nicely straightforward program for scheduling copying jobs. Used it for backups for years.
Fences - only started using this recently, but it makes desktop icon organisation a lot simpler, plus can hide them all to keep things looking tidy.
This isn't exactly the same as you described, but fences handles the issue in other ways. You can also double-click to hide/show all or a portion of your icons/fences.
Maybe you should try Fences. I use them all the time. Turns your desktop into something like this
SyncToy2.1 Makes having two folders meant to act as one a reality Apparently this is outdated and Microsoft Mesh is way better
Remove Empty Directories- can search through any chosen directory and locate empty folders
Fences - creates organization boxes on your desktop
[EDIT] Stuff added, link updated
Look up more things like these. Its a few programs that allow you to change your desktop. Also
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
This allows you to hide your icons on your desktop might help you get that clean look as in the picture above.
Too late, the bandwagon against anything Stardock related has begun. We're not even allowed to use fences anymore.
In case anyone doesn't know what that is, it's a pretty useful program.
Stardock's Fences - I know that I don't 'use' this software everyday, but keeping my desktop icons clean and organized in a logical manner is a must. I can't stand a cluttered desktop.
Fences, must have for Windows desktop icon managment. Especially if you play full screen games that force you into low resolutions, which causes your icons to clump up and scatter everywhere. Fences lets you make regions on your desktop and stops icons from going out of those. Letting you make a "browser" section "games" section "apps" sections, etc. If a low-res app in full screen breaks your tidy layout of icons, it moves everything back automatically.
Started playing Final Fantasy 8 again lately which does just that, I'd be driven insane if I had to fix my icons every time.
Not sure if this fits in this new sub, but I was impressed with this software after doing some searches for clever wallpapers. I haven't tried it yet, but it's tempting.
edit: Here's the direct link to the actual program: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
You can redefine the primary monitor with right click on desktop and clicking "screen resolution".
You can also retain incon layout on the desktop with this application:
It's called Fences: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
It has a free trial, but I bought it ($10) after 5 minutes.
Also, double clicking the desktop hides it all. Super cool!
Also2: You can create multiple pages, clicking/dragging from the edges swaps your page!
I'm not affiliated with them at all, just think it's awesome!
Edit: another hidden feature, I just realized it takes the little "shortcut" icon off everything! Looks so much cleaner without them.
Fences does a nice job of organizing desktop icons. The free version has enough functionality to do what you're asking.
However, I've had issues with it behaving with Win 7 and I'm not sure the company's heart has been in getting it to work properly. Haven't tried it in a few months so your mileage may vary.
Looks like a pain in the ass to manage, and you can never again change your background.
Why don't you just get Fences to automate this process, and still retain the ability to use any damn wallpaper you want?
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
I think Fences looks a hell of a lot nicer, too. This background, with it's 90s-era CG art (ReBoot, anyone?), just looks kind of sad.
Why, it's only the best icon sorting program out there (As you can see how neatly organized my right screen is); I simply never got around deleting its shortcut.
They are mostly using Rainmeter, ObjectDock and Fences. If you fiddle around with these things you'll be able to achieve the same effect. I'll admit that it's not TOO simple but if you know how to use a program or two, you'll be able to handle it.
Use Fences to organize your icons, then double click on the desktop to hide all the fences and icons. Clean, icon free desktop, plus you can sort all your icons by type.
Fences. With a double-click on the desktop, anything in a Fence will toggle between being visible or hidden.
Free (older version): http://downloads.tomsguide.com/Fences,0301-32532.html
Current version (not free) http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
stardock fences. v1.0? was free and you may still be able to dl it somewhere. I think I have it somewhere i may just install it right now that you brought it to my memory.
Fences is the solution. He can set up permanent icon groups on the desktop, and they stay put. I've been using it for a couple years. I love it.
Just make sure he doesn't double-click on an empty spot on the desktop. "WHERE THE HELL DID ALL MY DOCUMENTS GO?!?!?" Double-clicking on the desktop hides all of your icons. :-)
Also, It looks like you don't have any desktop icons, or perhaps you already have this program, Fences by Stardock is a great little program that lets you hide all your desktop icons with a double click on the desktop. I love it with my Rainmeter themes.
That looks really ugly.
Just use any good wallpaper image along with a copy of Fences, which will not only look much better, but equally satisfy your OCD as well.
I enjoy Fences. Tried it about 5 years back and have been using it ever since. Helps keep everything cleaner while using your desktop for a lot of things.
There are launchers/docks available for rainmeter. Some people also just hide their icons using Windows built in feature or a program like Fences. You can also use the Windows taskbar. I use Fences to hide the majority of my icons, and pin the stuff I use the most to the taskbar.
This is why I use an old (free) copy of Fences. It let's me organise my icons into groups that I can name, drag'n'drop, resize, scroll etc. Then I can double click on the desktop and all the Fences and icons are instantly hidden/unhidden. You can exclude icons from being hidden too. At the moment, all that I have showing on my desktop is the GTAV and SpeedFan shortcuts.
Stardocks Fences should be close to what you need. Though I think you may be stuck with simply going with a folder on the desktop that you click into.
Are you wanting to customize? Or are you setting up some sort of specific machine instance for other users?
Perhaps a combination of Fences and Rainmeter could do what you want.
Nicely done man.
It's inevitable that someone will ask so... Those of you looking to make something similar, you will need rainmeter, and a program called fences is helpful too.
How would fences be better than a normal shortcut?
Edit: For those wondering what Fences is, it groups folders into victual "containers" on your desktop similar to the default behavior of KDE or Android/iOS folders (except they are in an consistently expanded state.)
Here is a picture of the program so you can get an idea of exactly what it is. Fences cost $9.99 after a 30 day trial.
I use a program called Fences on Win7 that allows for grouping, but also has a feature that allows you to double-click empty space on the desktop and hide icons or groups of icons. You can also leave items 'excluded' from the hiding as well.
Fences. Helps to tidy up / organise your desktop. 2.0 is a paid version, but 1.0 is freeware if you search for it. One of the most useful programs I have.
Edit: and here's my desktop, just to show what it looks like
Edit 2: Also, Tunnelbear is excellent for viewing shows/videos that aren't available in your county i.e. Hulu/BBC Iplayer
I am using a program called Fences to create desktop docks. You can drag and drop any shape, free-transform them, label them, and adjust color/opacity. Fences is a super easy to use and best of all it's free.
Here is a link to the free download from the Stardock website: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
If there's anything else I can help you with let me know!
That movie is fucking amazing.
I read lower that you are too lazy to clean up your desktop.
Might I suggest downloading fences. Double click your desktop, and all of your icons vanish. Double click again, and they come back. It also offers you create areas that will help you keep it organized.
Fences is great for this, it isn't free though. I just double click to hide all my icons, and double click again to show them when I need them. You can also set it up to stay hidden until you mouse over it.
>Stuff on the desktop drives me bonkers.
I used to feel that way, until I discovered Fences. Now I've got a little corral on my desktop for each current project, with shortcuts to the various content and source data folders along with project management files.
Link to Rainmeter + Skins Used: http://win10widgets.com/
Link to Stardock Fences: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
Link to wallpaper: http://k30.kn3.net/taringa/0/0/2/0/3/A/Greoklanky/DAE.png (thank you /u/itachi12131415 )
>and reset resolutions and reorganize desktop icons every time a monitor gets powercycled?
Have you tried fences? Icons don't rearrange when you have them in fences.
I've just tried Cinnamon on my desktop; I have it already on my laptop, and it works well there, but I wanted to 'ascend' my desktop computer too (as the folks in /r/linuxmasterrace would put it - 'ascend' as a transitive verb!). At this point -on my desktop - Cinnamon started to suck seriously. The panels are (still - on Mint 17.2) buggy and limited and limiting - and I can't find a dock that does everything I need. (Cairo works well, now I've figured out its myriad of options, on my laptop, but not on the desktop - because of limits on how it represents multiple windows from single applications.)
'Ah, the quality!' was not what I was thinking. But perhaps I'll try KDE - for a better panel and even, so I've heard, Fences-like panes.
I for one think it looks nice. If I want to run a program, I generally hit start and then start typing what I want. It's faster than trying to find it in a cluttered desktop.
Also, it's a feature of Fences; you can double-click anywhere but an icon to hide all desktop icons.
the plethora of icons as well. Maybe try Fences or possibly RocketDock with the Stacks docklet. I have like 3 actual icons over 4 screens, guess im ocd like that.
Looks like someone needs Fences. If you scroll down, there is a free version. You will be both more organized as well as able to show your sweet background without anything in front of it.
For the lazy:
>Basic Features
>Rope off your desktop Fences allows you to create shaded areas on your desktop that you can place icons in. You can label them however you wish, and move/resize them anywhere on the desktop. Pre-included layouts help speed the process for new users.
>See your wallpaper again! Quickly hide & show all your icons with an easy double-click Double click blank space on your desktop, and all your icons will fade out. Double click again, and they’ll return. We think this feature is so useful and unique, that we’ve applied for a patent on it. You can even pick icons and individual Fences to exclude!
>Create snapshots, and have automatic scaling (for screen size changes) Take and restore snapshots of your Fence layouts for backup, or for when you are doing different tasks. Change your resolution for playing games and Fences will keep them in the same relative spots. In the Pro version of Fences, the "snapshot" feature has been enhanced to automatically take and keep recent snapshots on hand, ensuring your desktop layout never gets lost.
Rainmeter is a really cool way to make and use custom widgets on your computer. You can also download skins other people make at customize.org. Another good program is Fences which you can use to organize your desktop icons.
Here are a few examples of what you can do with these programs. I take credit for non of the rainmeter skins. The last one in particular was actually made by a redditor who posted it to /r/gaming a few weeks ago.
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/ (its free)
this is so simple and awesome they should include it with next windows version. There is absolutely no reason NOT to include this, as you are free to ignore the functionality. Buy/steal it from stardock give them a billion dollars if thats what it takes. (or some more sane number)
edit: while at it, hire this guy to make your search, its so much better than windows one that its not even funny, your seach sucks, while this guy gets it so perfect in single 334kb exe file.
I think Fences Pro will let you specify this kind of thing (make a fence and tell Fences to put all new icons in it), but it may have other features that you don't need.
Fences is an easy way to organize your icons. Also, if you double click on desktop, the icons are "hidden".
(I set my start bar to auto-hide on the right side. Saves screen real-estate on laptop.)
I like the transparent Desktop Clock Gadget by Adam Casey. I use a couple of Outlook ones as well.
I think it's completely retarded that Windows Sticky Notes application isn't a gadget, and none of the existing gadgets are up to my standards so I'm working on one now.
Gadgets aside, I use Fences to organize my icons into categories.
I use the program Fences.
It does two main things: First, it allows you to group similar program icons together, but you don't have to use that feature if you don't want. The other feature, and the one I use most, is the way it hides all icons on your desktop with a double-click anywhere on the open desktop. To get them to reappear, just double-click again.
I highly recommend it.
On my laptop atm:
Simple and nice :)
Edit: the first one is a screenshot of when using fences to hide the icons and making the taskbar automaticly hide.
Fences is awesome for managing desktop icons. Until I found this I just had my icons permanently hidden.
The trial only lasts 30 days however, after that its $10 iirc if you want to keep using it.
Stardock Fences will do that for you. Not sure if that's what OP is using though. You could just pin them to the taskbar though, takes up way less space that way.
If you use fences they have a neat double click to hide desktop icons feature which means you can still have some handy shortcuts on your desktop, but hide/show them as and when you need
Just replied to someone else above you about this. I think it is Fences (made by Stardock) but I'm not 100% sure since I don't know if the expanding is possible with that.
EDIT: also it's not a rainmeter skin.
Anecdotally, Windows is funny like that. If you had no rhyme or reason and just throw whatever wherever, it'll stay forever. But, as soon as you have a system, it'll mess it up first chance it gets.
Have a look at Fences from Stardock. It's not free ($10) but you can try it for 30 days. I haven't used it myself, but it has a rules system for item organization on a per 'fence' basis. http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
If you like to use desktop icons consider checking out the program Fences! It helps a lot with organization and esthetics.
Also try picking a few useful keyboard shortcuts from this list and learning them. Some of my favorites are Win+D (minimize all) and Win+tab (opens the task switcher, shows multiple desktops etc)
Once you get more used to Windows, or if you really want to unlock more potential, I highly recommend AutoHotKey. It lets you do a ton of crazy stuff, anywhere from switching keyboard keys, creating shortcuts, to writing full-on scripts to have Windows do stuff for you. At least use it for shortcuts, for example I have it set up where if I type "xemlg" it replaces that with my gmail address.
Yeah, all good stuff! I'm a huge Windows fan, and I think they did a stellar job with Windows 10!
I use fences by Stardock. It let's you set little fenced off areas on the desktop that are scrollable. So you can make an area to fit 10 icons and scroll through them. I have mine set so that the fenced areas are invisible until you mouse over the area. Great for wanting stuff on the desktop but hating the look of all the icons.
There's two that I can think of, Nimi-Places and the more popular Fences. I haven't tried Nimis but I have tried a pro version of Fences and it was pretty awesome too use with way way more features than I've ever need while still feeling slim and light on my system. Also, I realized that all the icons on my desktop was just there for the purpose to try out Fences and that I really didn't any desktop organizing as I normally don't use icons so I uninstalled it. There is a free older version of Fences but the pro version is needed if you wan't to have your icons stay put during resolution changes on your screen or more dual-screen options.
Nimi-Places: http://mynimi.net/Projects/Nimi-Places/Features/
Alternatively from a dock program you are looking for you can give Fences a try. Granted they changed the model so the free is now only a 30 day trial and the full program is $9.99... But one of the best things I've had on my pc for years now.
I can't think of anything that will provide seamless pop-up folders like Android, but Stardock Fences came to mind regardless. I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but I thought it'd be worth mentioning since lots of people like it for desktop icon management. It does have a few neat features like scrollable desktops.
I'll keep poking around and see if I can find something more like what you're asking for, because now I'm genuinely wondering if something like that exists.
Fences is a program that auto-hides and enables organization of your desktop icons. You can toggle between having them visible or hidden by double-clicking the desktop.
I don't know if you know about Fences, but it might help with what you were going for. It allows you to not only categorize your desktop into fences, but each fence can be set such that it's only visible on mouse-over.
Just thought I'd throw that out there because, while I love a clean desktop, I can't do without icons, and it seems you like a clean desktop as well.
It's one disadvantage is the $10 price tag, but there's a trial so you can decide if it's worth that or not.
Great list, but you forgot Fences! Different ways of organizing icons on your desktop, regularly recommended on Reddit. I never want to live without it again.
Icons: http://omnimo.info/ Making the Desktop items disappear: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/ Background: http://imgur.com/laTkd If anyone wants a black and white version of the background, let me know and ill post it.
I really liked fences for keeping my desktop clean. Unfortunately they recently released a v2 so the v1 nags you now and then to upgrade and it's no longer free.
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/download.asp
Even with fences I'd only have ~10 icons or so on my desktop, but it was nice to have a few areas to contain them, such as "work in progress"... you can set which ones stay visible at all times and the rest hide if you double click on the desktop.
I think it makes search a more prominent "feature." In Vista and 7 the search was pretty low-key, now it is a focal point so maybe he didn't use it as much in Vista or 7.
My favorite part is being able to pin groups of folders on the start screen, it's a lot cleaner than the desktop and I can organize things better. It is a lot like the Stardock program Fences in that I can name groups of tiles and arrange them in a coherent order.
Also, they introduced a ton of new keyboard shortcuts that make moving around between the desktop/metro interface a bit more fluid. If you're a keyboard shortcut sortof person then it's pretty good, if you're a heavy mouse user, it's not so stellar.
Seconded. Before I started using Fences though, I made two folders, one for shortcuts to applications and one for game shortcuts. I didn't put any other shortcuts on my desktop, so I only had a few folders on my desktop instead of a ton of icons.
Such a freaking mess. How the hell people work in that?
There is Fences for that. Free for personal use. All icons arranged and organized by categories. And you can do a double click on the background to temporary hide them if you need to clean your desktop. Pretty cool utility.
fences (free, organizes windows desktop)
Everything search engine (free, much faster and useful file search for windows, also comes with easy way to share files on the net if you want to use it)
Input director (free, control two or more windows machines with one keyboard and mouse)
for starters, others too, but that's probably top 3.
my favorite two:
http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
better desktop managment, free, should be standard and is pretty awesome.
way better search for your files, just way way better, microsoft should hire this guy. also free (first thing when you install windows, disable all indexing for all drives, install this, faster and better)
as a bonus, comes with ftp and http fileserver on the tiny file, not enabled as standard, but usefull if you ever need to share files.
Seriously though, check out Fences
It lets you organize your icons. For example, this is mine:
Nice battlestation!
There's also rocketdock and you can just use docklets to group everything together. Also there's Fences, I used it for a while and it worked really well. Only reason I stopped using it was because I wanted to see my awesome wallpaper, so I switched to a dock.
Get Fences. http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
I have 4 monitors, and i love it. It's one of the few pieces of software that impressed me enough to fork out for the pay version. but they have a free version as well.
<strong>Here's</strong> a little design tip for the SUPERCOLOSSAL clock!
^(The backgrounds line up, my screen resolutions differ just a little bit)
I changed the color, removed the lame bar and the seconds. Also slaughtered the Winamp plugin. Feels so much better with it in a decent look. Also <strong>Fences</strong> to hide and group all my icons.
One of my favorite programs to use is Fences. It hides all the icons on your desktop, which can sometime clutter your Rainmeter theme or become redundant when you have similar skins.
Well Tali might be all for recycling then. btw: fun fact. I am a minimalist as well but I also enjoy having shortcuts (It's an odd place to be). So I use this, it lets me double click and hide all of my shortcuts. Just in case you're interested.
Late to the party, but the program Fences gets rid of the icons if you double click and then brings them back with a double click. It's one of my favorite programs.
You could try using Fences.
There was a time when I used it, before I eventually got rid of all my icons and either docked/taskbar-ed them. If you want a little preview of what it looked like for me, you can check it out (but do note that I did stylize mine somewhat, it generally looks more simple with standard icons/sizes): http://i.imgur.com/YU3cf.jpg
I used to do that until i downloaded Fences. It is a really awesome thing and when you double click your desktop the icons appear. If you double click again they disappear. And you can make only certain icons appear and disappear so it is real handy. Here is the link: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/ it is free and it doesn't come with any security things nor viruses! :P
Oh and maybe you'd like to hide your icons that are on your desktop, just download the free program Fences
Then you can hide your icons by creating a fence putting your icons in it and doubleclick your wallpaper somewhere then your icons are hidden!
The wallpaper comes from an amazing artist on DA.
The system monitoring gauges all come from a skin program called RainMeter. The skins I'm using are BlueVision for the gauges, and SimpleSentence for the notes and weather map. It takes a hot minute to figure out the program, but I had it all done in about an hour.
All my desktop icons are hidden in an invisible dock from a program called Stardock Fences.
There's also a ton of skins out there for Rainmeter to play with. Enjoy!
You should try out Fences. It lets you create holding pens for icons. I've got one for Tools, Files, Non-Work programs and General Apps. Double clicking an empty space on the desktop will hide everything except my General Apps Fence.
alternativeto.net to search up alternatives to programs on another platform. really great website.
I actually switched from OS X to windows 7 a couple months ago. That site was a life saver.
I recommend Fences if you like files and shortcuts on your desktop.
My preferred tool: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
I got it for free during a humble bundle, and Stardock has been well known in the desktop modification scene since the W98 days with Object Desktop.
I strongly recommend buying Stardock Fences. The rest of their products seem mostly useless but Fences is absolutely brilliant and will make your desktop management better than anything else.
I use Fences to organize my icons on my desktop so to the right of my screen I have a rectangular box with six icons that I use to scroll through icons of my installed games. Below that I have another rectangular box that I can scroll through for my applications. The background is semi transparent. I think it's pretty cool.
I posted this in another subreddit some months ago, but I believe the problem I have is basically the same as yours (icons get messed up when I turn off one of my screens which is connected over DisplayPort).
> I have the same problem when I turn off the monitor and then access my computer from remote desktop from work, it defaults to a low resolution and messes up all my icons when I come back and turn on the monitor.
> What I did was install Fences which allows me to create containers for the icons on the desktop, and it remembers the original resolution. So if something messes up my icons, when I come back to the original resolution the icons will be back where they were.
> If you don't like the look of the containers you can customize them to be invisible, also it allows several neat options for sorting and organizing your stuff. I believe it has a basic free option but I got the paid version really cheap from the Humble Software Bundle a few months ago.
Try Stardock Fences.
You can create sections on your Desktop and put files in them as such and if you drag them to the top of the screen they minimize so you only see the name of the section until hovering over it.
Super-handy list! Thank you for creating it!
Just a smaller addition from me (Which has probably already been suggested to death elsewhere) but personally I love having both a clean desktop, and all my shortcuts to games and other programs in an easy-to-reach place - <strong>Fences</strong> is a great bit of software that lets you put items on your desktop into customisable mini-windows and I would highly recommend :)
Fences.
Cool desktop organizing tool which buckets, 'locks' and arranges your folders, icons, and programs into categories. Folder Portals allow a server or other drive location to display contents of a folder or sub folder straight on your desktop. Pretty sweet and can use on several computers (5?) for $9.99.
I keep hearing people mention that this happens but it has never happened to me so I can't troubleshoot it myself.
But there is a piece of software that might either help prevent it and/or be a nice alternative, Fences.
Fences. I'm the type who has a messy desktop with files and icons everywhere, and this helps to organize them. You can have multiple "pages" of these icon containers, and if you like having a completely clean desktop, you can double click to hide all icons.
Costs $9.99, but I think it's worth it.
Are they worth the money? Been seeing those around here and there and they looked really nice to have, especially the start10 program.
Start10: http://www.stardock.com/products/start10/
Fences: http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/download.asp
Let me know if anyone else has a free program that does either of the above, it would be nice to have that stuff. I also suppose you could just paint the background to have it, kinda inelegant though. Brings me back to Rocket-dock, anyone remember using that?
You should try out Fences can organise apps into categories and can hide/show them by double clicking anywhere on the desktop, great way to hide the icons and still be able to access them quickly.