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I got a dell laptop and recently it got a lot of viruses, so I had to reformat the hard drive. I talked to the Indian dell tech support guy and he said that I shouldn't download things directly to the desktop.

he mentioned something about the desktop being like temporary storage or something, he was not really clear about it.

anyway, I do have a few questions

  1. is it okay to save downloaded files and documents directly to the desktop?
  2. if not, where should I put those kinds of files and stand alone programs that I copy to my computer?
  3. how is storing files on the desktop different from storing them to your documents folder or directly to the hard drive (C:) ?
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Your desktop is just another folder. Keep it tidy, but it doesn't matter where it's downloaded (within reason). Just do not download/run programs from untrusted sources (including things which may be malware), keep windows/software updated, use the firewall and default security settings, and avoid shady sites or services -- if it's "too good to be true".... No viruses/worms/trojans in years here, although using a virus/malware scanner on a regular basis (doesn't need to be all the time) is a prudent measure. – pst Apr 7 '11 at 19:09
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migrated from stackoverflow.com Apr 7 '11 at 21:01

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5 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

Unfortunately, this is the kind of urban legend nonsense that's all too typical from level 1 support folks. The desktop is nothing more than a shortcut to a location on your hard drive and is no different than any other folder.

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Unfortunately this sort of nonsense is rife amongst people handling even escalated support queries... – Matthieu Cartier Apr 7 '11 at 21:35
there is a bugs in windows dealing with file storage that is discussed on the latest episode of Windows Weekly. Thurrott talks about saving files to his desktop and issues related to that. Not sure if the problem is specific to the desktop or if it's any folder – Patrick Apr 8 '11 at 21:24
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up vote 2 down vote

Some valid reasons not to store important files on your desktop

Files on your desktop are not very secure. These files are in plain view to any person that sits down at your computer if you remain logged on. Not only can they read them, they may inadvertently delete them.

If you have to use the System Restore feature of Windows, some files that are stored on your desktop may not be preserved. In other words, they will be gone after the restore process is complete.

Files saved to the desktop are stored in your user profile. This increases the size of your profile. If you are using roaming profiles, the files follow you around regardless of which computer you log on to.

If your user profile becomes corrupt, you may lose all your desktop files.

Source of Information

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up vote 1 down vote

This is entirely a personal preference.

I personally find files on my desktop distracting. I want to see pretty pictures on my desktop, not file icons. So I hide all files on my desktop. But then I use a toolbar in the taskbar to give me access to those files without having to go very far or minimize windows.

As the others have said though, it is not a security issue except in the sense that shoulder watchers may be able to more easily see your file names.

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up vote 0 down vote

As far as I know, storing it on the desktop doesn't matter. You'll be infected even if you save the file to a different location and execute.

But... 1. yes

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up vote 0 down vote

As everyone has suggested, this is entirely a personal preference. If you get a virus, it will harm your PC, not just what's on your desktop. Personally, I like to use Windows 7's libraries (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/libraries). They're pretty handy.

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