I know how it is. You download a file from the Internet, and it's simplest just to drop it on the desktop. That file you're always working on, well -- easiest just to put it on the desktop where you can find it, right? Text clippings, URLs, video files you need to watch. Anything and everything tends to accumulate on your desktop. (I've see this happen to the point where the desktop simply fills up and icons begin stacking on top of one another at the top right!)
Maybe you just think of it as garden variety clutter. Maybe, like me, you don't really even notice it. But your Mac notices. As Rob Griffiths notes over at Macworld, "the operating system treats each desktop icon just like a full-size Finder window—the icon takes up a chunk of memory, and the system has to track its position and size at all times." In other words, every item you leave on your desktop eats up a little bit of your computer's memory and processing power. Stack up enough stuff, and the hit becomes noticeable. Windows open slowly. Simple operations result in the dreaded spinny-cursor. Just logging in takes longer than it ought to.
Fortunately, the fix is easy. "Create a folder or two on your desktop (call them Need To Look At and Things To Do, for example), and then move all the items from your desktop into the new folders," says Griffiths. And he's right. Everything you need daily is still within easy reach, but the Finder no longer has to drag the rest of the system down trying to keep tabs on it.
(Image courtesy cookieevans5)
