A few days ago one of my clients called me with some strange problems. Suddenly many of her files disappeared from her computer. None of the files seemed to be related. She was missing a few Microsoft Word documents, some photos and her genealogy.
After looking around and doing several searches she happened to mention that she used to have a folder on her desktop called "Old Desktop Files." It was a folder with files that she had on an old computer.
Instantly I figured out what was going on. I looked in her Word and PAF under the File menu and noticed that all of the missing files had been in that missing folder.
I had looked in her recycle bin for the missing individual files and they weren't there, but when I knew to look for the entire folder it was all there in the recycle bin.
She was relieved that everything could be recovered. I gave her two short lectures. Lecture 1 was entitiled Always Backup Your Important Data on a Flash Drive or CD and the other was Never Put Data Files or Folders on Your Desktop.
To make a shortcut on the desktop just find any folder, file or shortcut in My Computer then hold the right mouse button down while dragging the icon to the desktop. Choose "Create Shortcut."
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All my life I have been a very happy Windows user. Currently I have Windows XP. I’ve never had problems keeping files or folders on my desktop. I know I can rely on my machine to keep all my files where I put them. So I’d like to know, those of you who have had unexpected deletions from your desktop, are you using a Macintosh OS? Because if you’re using Windows, then I’d really suggest you do a virus/spyware check on your system because it certainly doesn’t sound right to me that without your consent, the computer simply deletes your stuff from the desktop.
People people people. FILES DO NOT DELETE THEMSELVES! WINDOWS WILL NOT JUST DELETE YOUR FILES! Either you have SPYWARE, MALWARE, other VIRUSES, or annoying PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE! If you have none of those, then you are a MORON! It is YOUR FAULT for deleting YOUR OWN FILES!!! I put tonnes of files on my desktop. I consider 4 or 5 columns (on 1024×768 resolution) to be a SMALL amount of icons! Most of them are shortcuts, and some are files! That’s OK! Files I wish to access on the go, for ease-of-use! That is the point of a desktop, SO YOU CAN SEE IT RIGHT THERE! Sure, I can understand wanting a zen desktop with some cool photo for your wallpaper and 1 icon, but to me that is just not practical. One of the wonders of windows is the ease with which you can simply click and drag files! You don’t need to open a shortcut to a folder in my documents to see your actual files when you can do it right there with your cool wallpaper instead of a plain white and yellow folder etc. Sure, it’s good to be safe, and I do backup my most precious files, but other than that, I don’t. It’s just not practical. I use my hard drive, because it has space, it is secure, I have lots of files, and most importantly, I don’t want to spend 5 minutes navigating through folders to try and find one word document. I won’t use my desktop as a permanent spot for all of my files, because I have so many I organize them into folders, but Firefox saves files to the desktop for a reason. They’re right there in front of you!
The desktop is used for quick access to ANYTHING! It’s not a shortcut only zone!
I’d love to answer this one, but need another category…
like, TOO OFTEN!
I, too, use the desktop to store temporary files that I will use only for editing my web site or looking at a client's file, but because they are on the desktop, they can be inadvertantly deleted or misplaced easier than if they are stored in a folder elsewhere on the hard drive.
My Documents is a natural place for important files to live, but you can create any folder you want on the C drive. As Adam pointed out in his article, you can easily create a shortcut to commonly used files or folders on your desktop. If a shortcut gets lost or misplaced, no damage is done, it can be recreated without a problem.
I understand about backing up, of course. But why not put files and folders on your Desktop? What else is your Desktop for?
Lynn
I always put all my files on the desktop. How else can I do it? You create new files on the desktop so I just figured that is where they would live. Should I drag and drop them into My Documents? Teach me. HELP ME RICK (AND ADAM)
Rosemary
For me, the desktop is to be used only for temporary downloads which are security updates, zip folders and shortcuts to programs. This convenience is a great way to get at your most used programs rather than clicking on START,ALL PROGRAMS and then searching thru the entire list to find your program. I have 50 icons on my desktop, and most of these are programs. I usually use no more than 4 or 5 on a daily basis. This sure makes them easy to find.
I will never use my Desktop for Files and Folders.
I have always questioned others as to why are you doing it?
It only demonstrates a lack of organization, also I love
pictures(family, pets, events,etc..), so I do not want 50
desktops icons covering those items.
Presently, I have 5 desktop icons on my monitor, Internet
Explorer, Outlook Express, HP Image Zone Express, Sonic Stage(music), and Recycle Bin….in the corners of the monitor.
Phil
Thank Bro… but i did it, then my important files missing somewhere! its my mistake. I lost my folder on desktop.
My husband n i was from weekend holiday. And he will save our picture files with his computer before tranfer into external HD as usual. But, because of his computer got technical problem, so he ask me to put it on my computer for awhile. so,i save it on my desktop so tht we can see it.
unfortunately, the next beautiful day i switch on my laptop,and recomment me to proceed scan, my computer doing scan check job for C: drive as usual. and it start up…. huhhh,you know what?.. my desktop just clean. except mycomputer and recycle bin still in place. But where my file and the picture folder?… i still not in mood till today. There are important picture for college practical report. i hope somebody might help me solve this.
Just don’t place them on your desktop.
okok, whatever is it for.
any way to recover those “suddenly disappeared” files?
my files just gone all of a sudden, no where on my com is to be found. DOH!