Hi Ronni -- -- This discussion has been very useful to me, as I used to keep my Desktop like my real world, very cluttered. So I've had a good speed increase by putting everything on the Desktop in folders.
-- I am wondering about 'open' files which I've stood aside into the dock (pressed yellow button on top left). Does the OS count these as open, or is the dock just like a folder too? Cheers -- David Noel 2011 Feb 18 ====== On 18 February 2011 06:46, Ronda Brown <ro...@mac.com> wrote: > Hi Ruben, > > I'd just like to clarify whether the contents of a folder on the desktop > are also loaded into the RAM or if it was just the folder its-self > > > Short Answer: it is just the folder itself. > It doesn’t matter how many items are in that folder or how much space > those items take up. > To the operating system, it’s just another window. > > Longer Reply about the Desktop: > > Keep your desktop clean. > > Your desktop is actually a folder. It lives at (your startup disk, usually > called “Macintosh HD”) > Users > (your user name) > Desktop. > The difference is that the desktop folder displays it’s contents on your > desktop as icons. > These are not your normal icons, because the operating system treats every > icon on the desktop as a window. > So having 100 icons on your desktop is like having 100 windows open at the > same time. > This uses tremendous amounts of system resources and slows everything down. > > It’s easy for the desktop to get out of hand. Icons on the desktop are > generally laid out in a grid. When the grid fills up, the operating system > starts to place any additional icons in the same place, stacking them on top > of icon for your start-up disk! > So now, the problem is getting worse and worse and you don’t even realize > it. > > The solution is easy. Start by creating a new folder on your desktop. > Call it “Stuff to file”, or something like that. Then, take everything on > your desktop and put it in that folder. > It doesn’t matter how many items are in that folder or how much space those > items take up. > To the operating system, it’s just another window. > > Once you have done that, you should notice an immediate improvement in > performance. > > Next, do some house cleaning. Start moving things from the “Stuff to file” > folder into the the proper folders in your home folders: Documents, Music, > Pictures or Movies. > Create sub-folders in those folders, if necessary. > > Then, just keep track of the amount of icons on your desktop. > . > Cheers, > Ronni > Sent from Ronni's iPad > > On 18/02/2011, at 12:18 AM, Dark1 <da...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > > *Keeping your desktop clean is really important because every icon, folder > or alias on it is loaded into the RAM, slowing your system down. * > > > This explains why every computer my sister uses seems to suffer a huge drop > in performance. She has so much junk on the desktop that there are icons > stacked upon multiple other icons. I'd just like to clarify whether the > contents of a folder on the desktop are also loaded into the RAM or if it > was just the folder its-self. > > Thanks > Ruben > > > > ------------------------------ > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
