Solved Basic question about Desktop

RhinoCan

New Member
Messages
67
Is there any way to make the Windows Desktop scrollable once you have more icons that will fit on the Desktop at one time?

I tend to have a lot of icons on my desktop, mostly from installing apps of one kind or another. Most people looking at my desktop remark that I have an unusually large number of icons. I'm certainly not trying to fill my desktop but I've often come close. Recently, however, I added a couple of icons to my already-full desktop and was surprised to see that no scrollbars appeared to help me navigate to the ones that were just barely visible at the right side of the screen. For some reason, I had always assumed that scrollbars or some similar device would appear so that I could get to those newest icons.

I've been able to get everything back onto the visible portion of my desktop by changing the icon size from medium to small but it may not take too long before I've filled up the desktop even with them set at the smallest of the three available sizes. If that happens, will I need to start putting my desktop icons into folders or even delete apps simply so that I can access all the icons?

I'm rather surprised that the desktop isn't scrollable, just like the start menu in 8/8.1. Windows has been around for a very long time now and I'd have thought that making the desktop scrollable in some fashion would have happened long ago.

Am I missing a menu option somewhere to make icons even smaller or to make the Desktop scrollable? Or is there a better strategy when you just happen to have a lot of icons?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS K55N
    CPU
    AMD A8-4500 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.90 GHz
    Motherboard
    not sure
    Memory
    8.00 GB installed, 7.46 GB usuable
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon
    Sound Card
    not sure
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built-in laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    one 750 GB
    PSU
    Not sure
    Case
    Not sure
    Cooling
    Not sure
    Keyboard
    Built in to laptop
    Mouse
    None; I use the touchpad
    Internet Speed
    6 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up
    Browser
    current versions of Firefox, Chrome and IE
    Antivirus
    Avast Free
    Other Info
    I *think* many of the questions to which I've answered "not sure" are irrelevant because it is a laptop but if you need to know specifically what model of cooling fans or keyboard or whatever where built in to the laptop, I can try to find that out if you tell me where to look. I don't see this information in the Windows/System display but maybe it is elsewhere. I'm not sure what a "PSU" is: Powe
No it's not scrollable. but if you would like a recommendation go ahead and create folder group s such a AV tools, batch files, Browsers, Games...etc. and then turn on the desktop toolbar on the taskbar by going into properties>toolbars, then right click your desktop and choose view show desktop icon, then use the desktop toolbar which will show your folders with flyouts.
Screenshot (30).png
Your desktop will appear cleaner and you'll be able to see your wallpaper again. Note I have pimped my toolbar by unlocking the taskbar then going in and adjusting the recycle bin to the front after that I turned off showing text & titles and also chose show large icons, that way I can still see the status of trash.:D
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Update Pro in Hyper-V/Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Cliff's Black & Blue Wonder
    CPU
    Intel Core i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero
    Memory
    32 GB Quad Kit, G.Skill Trident Z RGB Series schwarz, DDR4-3866, 18-19-19-39-2T
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 ROG Strix O24G, 24576 MB GDDR6X
    Sound Card
    (1) HD Webcam C270 (2) NVIDIA High Definition Audio (3) Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ BL2711U(4K) and a hp 27vx(1080p)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
    Hard Drives
    C: Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 SSD
    E: & O: Libraries & OneDrive-> Samsung 850 EVO 1TB
    D: Hyper-V VM's -> Samsung PM951 Client M.2 512Gb SSD
    G: System Images -> HDD Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    Corsair HX1000i High Performance ATX Power Supply 80+ Platinum
    Case
    hanteks Enthoo Pro TG
    Cooling
    Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB TT Premium-Edition 360mm and 3 Corsair blue LED fans
    Keyboard
    Trust GTX THURA
    Mouse
    Trust GTX 148
    Internet Speed
    25+/5+ (+usually faster)
    Browser
    Edge; Chrome; IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender of course & Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit as a
    Other Info
    Router: FRITZ!Box 7590 AX V2
    Sound system: SHARP HT-SBW460 Dolby Atmos Soundbar
    Webcam: Logitech BRIO ULTRA HD PRO WEBCAM 4K webcam with HDR
In a situation like yours, wouldn't it just be easier to use the start screen in Windows 8?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Haswell i5 4690
    Motherboard
    Asus Z97-A
    Memory
    2 x 8gb HyperX, by Kingston
    Graphics Card(s)
    None yet
    Sound Card
    Outboard USB DAC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S24D360
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
There are third party utilities to create multiple desktops which effectively gives you more desktop space. I don't find this particularly useful but others can't along without them. The feature is built into Windows 10.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel Haswell i5 4690
    Motherboard
    Asus Z97-A
    Memory
    2 x 8gb HyperX, by Kingston
    Graphics Card(s)
    None yet
    Sound Card
    Outboard USB DAC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S24D360
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Thank you all for your various suggestions, several of which introduced me to techniques that were previously unknown to me.

As it turns out, I found a very simple solution. I noticed that a few of the desktop icons were text files and that a larger group were Word documents so I put each of those in a separate folder. Once I'd done that, I realized that my problem was solved: I had about a third of my desktop free of icons and was even able to change the size of the icons back to medium and still have plenty of room. I had thought of virtually all of the icons being applications but once I started putting the documents and text files into separate folders it became clear that many were not applications at all.

I'll keep your suggestions in mind though since changing circumstances may make one of those solutions helpful down the road. Thanks again!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS K55N
    CPU
    AMD A8-4500 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.90 GHz
    Motherboard
    not sure
    Memory
    8.00 GB installed, 7.46 GB usuable
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon
    Sound Card
    not sure
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built-in laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    one 750 GB
    PSU
    Not sure
    Case
    Not sure
    Cooling
    Not sure
    Keyboard
    Built in to laptop
    Mouse
    None; I use the touchpad
    Internet Speed
    6 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up
    Browser
    current versions of Firefox, Chrome and IE
    Antivirus
    Avast Free
    Other Info
    I *think* many of the questions to which I've answered "not sure" are irrelevant because it is a laptop but if you need to know specifically what model of cooling fans or keyboard or whatever where built in to the laptop, I can try to find that out if you tell me where to look. I don't see this information in the Windows/System display but maybe it is elsewhere. I'm not sure what a "PSU" is: Powe

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Integrated HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP h2207
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050@59Hz
    Hard Drives
    250GB Samsung EVO SATA-3 SSD;
    2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA-2;
    1.5TB Seagate ST3150041AS SATA
    PSU
    500W
    Keyboard
    Wired USB
    Mouse
    Wired USB
    Internet Speed
    3GB Up, 30GB Down
    Browser
    SeaMonkey
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender; MBAM Pro
    Other Info
    UEFI/GPT
    PLDS DVD-RW DH16AERSH
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