Disable Desktop Cleanup Wizard
How can I disable the Desktop Cleanup Wizard?
In Windows XP Pro, the Desktop Cleanup Wizard automatically runs every 60 days and tries to help the user in maintaining a clean and uncluttered desktop.
While good in nature, this feature could be quite annoying for those of us who do know what they want and what they don’t want on their desktop. I usually know exactly what is on my desktop, and everything there is for a purpose. I don’t like semi-automatic brainless wizards touching my computer…
To prevent the Desktop Cleanup Wizard from automatically running follow these steps:
- Open Registry Editor.
- In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\CleanupWiz
- Create the following value (DWORD):
NoRun
and give it a value of 1.
Note: As always, before making changes to your registry you should always make sure you have a valid backup. In cases where you’re supposed to delete or modify keys or values from the registry it is possible to first export that key or value(s) to a .REG file before performing the changes.
- Close Registry Editor and logoff.
Done!
As second method to disable the Desktop Cleanup Wizard is via the GUI:
- Right click an empty space on the desktop.
- Click Properties.
- Click the Desktop tab.
- Click the Customize Desktop button.
- Uncheck the box labeled Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard.