Does Too Many Files On Your Desktop Slow Down Your PC

So today we will take a look at a old myth where storing lots of large files and folders on your desktop will slow down your computer and make boot times longer. So what do you guys think?

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spoiler alert, it don't slow down the system in 2021 on modern day computers. I stored 102GB of data on my desktop and done a cold boot and there was not any difference worth talking about really.

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[Britec]

Another myth busting video for you guys. Drop us a LIKE 👍

[Sid-Cannon]

I remember this bloke many moons ago who thought his hard drive was full because his desktop was full of icons :)

[mandalorian]

In order for this test to be valid we need to use a polluted desktop by an average user with tons of different types of files and using it for a year. Then remove everything and test it. It’s also not an issue with boot up as much as it’s the user experience while in use. I have not heard that the primary concern was boot up but general use.

[johnathin]

If you have a lot of files that require parsing to be displayed (like for thumbnail generation) it can slow the computer down because of the overhead. Not much nowadays, but lots of large picture files on the desktop (or any folder when the icon views are chosen) can cause some slowdown as the OS opens, parses, generates thumbnails, closes the file and opens the next one etc.

[captainfuture]

Every file which has preview enabled can slow it down. If you have really many and big pdfs, which are not OCR, they the preview icon has to be created. I think this will slow down the system, if the preview icons (this is not actually the real term, but I am to lazy to look it up), are activated as usual.

[davinp]

The desktop isn't mean to store files. It is for shortcuts to programs and folders. Files should be stored in the documents folder. Some people have their desktop full of icons, but I like to keep mine clear

[breakingthethwall]

I thought the arguement was the having to render all those shortcuts graphically was what was supposed to be what slowed computer performance down not slow the boot down. oh well i like my desktop clutter free so i don't have many shortcuts.

[aaronmarkham]

I actually just want to learn to move the files OFF of my desktop

[mikeypeters]

How about multipe files/folders on your desktop. Untidy desktop?

[johnsenchak]

A huge amount of in files in the "download" folder will slow down your computer, when opening it up in File Explorer

[thesupercarenthusiastic]

I was also curious to find whether it does make a difference. Thanks for the video!

[TheCocoaDaddy]

I normally love these videos but I had to vote down on this one. It's one thing to have lots of data stored on the drive vs having lots of *files*. The 102GB of data you had stored was contained in 23 (or so) files. That's a far cry from having 102, 000 files on the desktop. Now, I fully agree that the number of files won't impact the boot time of Windows (maybe even any OS) but I don't think this video really demonstrated that. Would a single 102GB file have served the same purpose as the 23 files taking up 102GB of space? Anyway, thanks for posting the videos you post! :)

[CastChaos_]

I extracted a file using win rar and it had like 4000 class files alone . I selected the extrackt files option and it extracted those 4000 class files on my desktop and now i keeps crashing

[LDWilliams]

That looks like around 25 x 4gb files.
What happens if you had say 25k small sized files?

[dkat]

Do you have a video of how to boot straight into the desktop ? This pass key is a pain in the boot.

[bewitched]

Please help me! I restored my deleted files and there’s too much now and I can’t open anything, my desktop keeps going to black screen if I try opening anything

[johnr]

I don't think the amount of data makes a difference. However, having a lot of icons that are displayed does. Especially if the desktop folder is located on an HDD instead of the boot SSD. But when the icons are hidden it does not make an impact as it does not need to locate and render the icons on boot/login. Try booting up with every inch of desktop space taken up by an icon and see if it makes a difference. I would wager that it would in that case. Furthermore, I all but guarantee it does when said icons exist on a separate spinning HDD. The amount of data on the desktop is not what causes slowdowns and never was. It is the number of icons that need to be found and rendered.

[pajapajser]

can you help me fix mine, I use win 10 and I acidently extracted a file as here not all, now I have 200 files on my desktop and they are invisible to me, when I click on screen it just start loading and refreshes it self and then it just continues to that every time you try to do anything

[iamstartower]

Windows uses an hybrid hibernate shutdown by default for a cool boot you have to either reboot or turn of fast startup in power settings in the control panel.

[whovisionsCGI]

Mine takes ages to cold boot. Takes over 2min. Then another few minutes while everything in the background loads up. My hdd light is on until these finish. I've turned off all unnecessary start up and background programs, defrag fed, cleaned files, emptied recycle bin. Followed your vids on turning off unnecessary win 10 programs. Still slow. Have no idea why? Once it's up and running it's fine. It's just the first boot.