How to Disable the “Desktop Cleanup” in XP

Do you get a message every so often that says “There are unused icons on your desktop” and offers to clean it up for you?  If you’ve ever accepted the offer you then find that some of your essential, but infrequently used, shortcuts have gone missing.  Or maybe you are jusst fed up with being reminded now and then that “there are unused icons on your desktop”.

This is how to stop it happening:

  1. Right click a blank space on the desktop and select Properties.
  2. Click the “Desktop” tab.
  3. Click the “Customize Desktop” button.
  4. Click the check box labeled “Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard Every 60 Days” to clear the box.
  5. Click OK and then OK again to close the dialog boxes.

You can still run the Desktop Cleanup Wizard whenever you like by following steps 1 & 2 and then clicking the “Clean Desktop Now button”

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