Your desktop is the first visual sense you see when you swop your computer on , and there ’s nothing regretful than flicking that computer on and finding yourself stare at a cluttered plenty . A tidy looking desktop is just as cheering as a healthy house , and a raft easier to maintain .

So getting to a more soothing computer lifestyle by following these series of tip we ’ve put together . Create your own super - minimal screen background for your Windows or Mac motorcar , and making certain it stay that way .

Tweak your OS settings

To start with check that your operating arrangement is redact as footling as possible on the desktop . On Windows , launching context then choose Personalization and Taskbar to set your Taskbar to automatically hide . Since Windows 10 preferences are all over the place , so next you ’ll need to go to Appearance and Personalization and Personalization in Control Panel , then clack Change desktop icons , to get icon like This PC and Recycle Bin off your desktop too .

Windows used to have a super handy background clean up tool to rearrange the clutter of oodles of file , but it ’s no longer with us . Windows 10 does now support virtual desktops though . So you could at least keep your apps and window well space out across multiple desktops — switch to the necessary — and more cluttered unity — with a click of the Task View icon just to the right of the taskbar hunting loge .

alas cutoff and the taskbar stretchiness across all the desktops you make , so it ’s stupefy limited use as far as minimizing your screen background clutter goes .

Image: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo

Image: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo

If you ’re using macOS , spread up the Dock section of System Preferences and you may shrink the dock in size and ensure it ’s hide until you call for it . Go to General in System Preferences and you may also hide the carte prevention as well for that truly uncluttered look — like the docking facility , it will swing into view when you move the cursor towards it . you’re able to also open Preferences from the main Finder menu to hide certain point from the desktop ( under the General tab ) .

Again , the virtual desktop facility in macOS lease you space out applications and windows but not shortcut and file store on the desktop . It ’s called Mission Control and you’re able to bring it up by beg F3 .

One trick that does work on both Windows and macOS is adding an extra exhibit — you may then clear all the jumble off to a secondary monitor and keep the desktop on your original screen appear skillful and fresh .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Find the perfect wallpaper

We ’ve talked before aboutexcellent places to discover wallpaperfor your background but there are a few sites that cater to the minimalist among us . Simple Desktopsis one of the best minimum wallpaper sites out there , pulling together a server of great - calculate backdrops from various turning point of the web . There ’s also a Mac app you’re able to use to bicycle automatically through some of these images .

Vladstudiois another site that focuses mainly on childlike wallpaper rather than complex backdrops , and the eminent resolve of the images mean they all bet superb even on the newest screens . you could plausibly find a few more less obvious place to have a browse too — thisminimal wallpaper subredditis worth a browse , for example .

Meanwhile regular wallpaper libraries will often have a minimalist class you may drill down to , like DeviantArt , for example . A quick web hunt will shake off up a whole other set of curated lists of minimum wallpaper , include one byour friends at Lifehacker .

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If you require to go as blank as possible , you could , of course , set your OS wallpaper as a single , solid color . On Windows , properly - dawn on a blank part of the screen background and opt Personalize then pick Solid colouration from the Background drop - down ; on macOS , just get through the Solid Colors option under Desktop & Screen Saver in System Preferences .

Keep the desktop sacred

It ’s all too easy to practice the screen background as a ecumenical dumping bunch for shortcuts and files that have to be kept close at mitt but are n’t necessarily all that important — as a resultant , your screen can quickly become covered with unsightly icons and arrows .

One answer is to create a subfolder straight off off the desktop for all this digital flotsam and jetsam . All those temporary files you might need one twenty-four hours are only an extra double - click off , but the only mar on your desktop is a unmarried folder , and you could belike clear out this brochure on a regular ground and not notice anything crucial has pass miss .

As for shortcuts , just delete them and see which ones you in reality really rely on . There are so many secure way to launch apps and file now — Spotlight , Cortana , the Start carte du jour , the dock — that you do n’t really need to have rows and rows of shortcut taking up room on your screen background and obscuring your beautiful minimalist wallpaper .

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Shift all your cutoff into a temporary folder just in case , and the next fourth dimension you require a Indian file or program , try searching for it rather . If all goes well , you may erase that irregular folder after a while , and enjoy your novel minimalist direction of act upon .

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