New help fast, windows xp desktop icon overloaded, need to delete

I'm on windows xp, basically my desktop is full with a bunch of items and icon, there was like 2 icon space left but i made a grave mistake. The mistake was accidentally running this program called "shadow copy" which copied all items in "my documents" out to my desktop. So basically my desktop space got overloaded and the copied items spilled over to the another desktop space on the right side. However, i can't view that second desktop because i do not have another monitor or TV to extend that desktop space. So how do i delete the files copied?

I also thought of using windows expolorer to go to the desktop folder but there's a problem with that. First of all, i don't want to delete anything items or icon on my first desktop screen, i want to leave that alone. I only want to delete the excess items that spilled into the second desktop screen to the right.

The problem with using windows explorer is that the items are arranged differently in that windows explorer windows that they are actually arranged on my desktop, so trying to find which items are actually on the second desktop using windows explorer is very long and slow lol. I arrangeed my first desktop manually in a certain way and i don't want to have to manually arrange them again i'm OCD.

 

Right click on each icon you don't want and select Delete.

All those icons are short cuts so you won't delete the files themselves which will still be on the HDD. If you want to know where then look in the icon properties.

John

 

I'm not very experienced with multiple desktops/monitors, and it's been a while since I've used XP, but I would suggest as John Ratsey said: delete the icons you can see on your main display that you don't want, then right-click the desktop and look for an auto-arrange option that might snap some of those icons from the other "hidden" desktop back onto your main display.

Another option of course is if you have access to another monitor you could set it to display the 2nd desktop that's hidden and move the icons back to your main display manually or delete them manually.

Sorry if this isn't of much help!

 

John R's idea is spot on ... Also you could open windows explorer - navigate to desktop folder and delete all the excess shortcuts that way.

 

That's the first thing i thought of, but there's a problem with that. First of all, i don't want to delete anything items or icon on my first desktop screen, i want to leave that alone. I only want to delete the excess items that spilled into the second desktop screen to the right.

The problem with using windows explorer is that the items are arranged differntly in that windows explorer windows that they are actually arranged on my desktop, so trying to find which items are actually on the second desktop using windows explorer is very long and slow lol

anyway i downloaded "Dexpot" a virtual desktop workspace for windows xp. It's kinda like Ubuntu workspaces, i'll see if it works, so far it only duplicates the first desktop screen, i don't see any options to see items on my second desktop .

 

I would just select as many items on desktop as possible, then cut and paste them into a folder somewhere else. Repeat as many times as needed until desktop is cleared. Then see what's necessary of them and move those items back.

 

Just make the desktop icons smaller? Right click view - small icons. You may also be able to press and hold ctrl and then scroll using a scroll mouse to alter the size.

 

Here's an idea. Make a new folder on the desktop called "Original Desktop" or something like that. From the desktop itself (not Explorer) move all your regular desktop icons in to that folder. Now go to your desktop folder in Windows Explorer, such as C:\Documents and Settings\lucirz\Desktop. Delete everything there except the Original Desktop folder. That should get rid of all your accidentally-copied-over items. Now, move everything in the Original Desktop folder back to the desktop, delete the Original Desktop folder, and you should be back to where you started.

While you're at it, you might want to check out Fences. It lets you group your icons into hideable groups, so you can keep them sorted more easily and are less likely to run out of space. I don't personally use it since I tend to keep a minimal desktop and it doesn't support XP x64, but for someone who does use lots of desktop icons, it's worth considering.

That isn't available on XP. It was only in Vista that different-sized icons became available. Although, I'm not sure that Vista introduced any sizes that were smaller than what XP has, anyway. It definitely added bigger ones, but I think the XP size is the smallest in Vista and later.

 

Try going into windows explorer and to the desktop folder. Click view > by details.
Now right click on one of the header tabs [name],[size], etc.. and Enable "date created" (or "date modified") and hit "ok".
Now click on the "date created" tab a couple times to sort by that. It should now have sorted all those extra items together. you'll know them by the date/time stamp of when you ran shadowcopy.
Now click on the first item, hold the shift key, and click on the last item to highlight them all. now press the delete key to get rid of all of them at once. problem solved.

 

Great solution thanks, i don't know why i didn't think of that, sort by time created in the windows explorer Since that won't mess with the way i laid out the items and icons on the actual desktop itself.

ANyway Dexpot was useless, it only gives extra virtual workspaces but it does not extend the desktop virtually.