Clear Out Your Desktop to Improve Performance

If your desktop looks like a collage of screenshots, PDFs, and random project folders, you’re not alone. After all, it’s an easy place to dump everything that you might need someday. However, macOS doesn’t treat those items as mere icons; each is a small view that it must render and keep track of.

Hundreds of items on the desktop can make your Mac feel sluggish and older than it is, but even if you have a modern Mac that can handle this, having to look at it every day could also make your brain feel tired and sluggish. Fortunately, there are a few ways to fix it.

First, you can control-click (right-click) on the desktop and choose Use Stacks to automatically group items by type, such as screenshots, images, PDFs, and so on.

You can also create a folder named something like “pictures,” “files,” or “miscellaneous,” and drag everything into it if you want a clean slate.

Of course, that doesn’t take care of the elephant in the room. If you really want to make a better impact on your Mac, delete the files and photos you don’t need anymore.