windows-desktop-shortcut-cleaner

Python 3 script for Windows that removes all shortcuts from the user's Desktop folder, with optional exceptions.

A lot of Windows apps will create shortcuts on the desktop without asking the user for permission. Scheduling this script can help with keeping the desktop clean automatically.

Requirements

• Windows 11 or newer (anything newer than Windows Vista probably works, but support for end-of-support Windows versions is not maintained)
• Python 3.10 or newer

Installation

Using pipx:

REM Installation
pip install -U pipx
pipx install git+https://github.com/Rainyan/windows-desktop-shortcut-cleaner

REM Running
scleaner

REM Updating
pipx upgrade scleaner

Using git:

REM Installation
git clone https://github.com/Rainyan/windows-desktop-shortcut-cleaner
CD ".\windows-desktop-shortcut-cleaner"

REM Running
python src\cleaner.py

REM Updating
git pull

Usage

For a simple dry-run (doesn't delete anything), simply run the app.

If you installed with pipx, the command is scleaner.

If you're using the script version, run the script with python src\cleaner.py (or python3, if python doesn't work for your environment).

If your dry-run printout returns empty, the tool would have deleted nothing. Else, you'll see a list of would-be deleted files:

>scleaner
[Dry-run] Would remove: "C:\Users\username\Desktop\ALVR.lnk"
[Dry-run] Would remove: "C:\Users\username\Desktop\Mingw haskell shell.lnk"

If you don't want to delete specific shortcuts, add them to your exceptions list:

>scleaner --exceptions "ALVR,Mingw haskell shell"

Once you're happy with the dry-run output, you can delete the files for real with the -f flag:

>scleaner --exceptions "ALVR,Mingw haskell shell" -f

Full list of available commands

usage: scleaner [-h] [-f] [-V] [-d DESKTOPS] [-e EXCEPTIONS] [--print-my-desktop-dir]

Python script that removes all shortcuts from the user's Desktop folder, with optional exceptions

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -f, --no-dry-run      permanently delete the matching files (instead of dry-run). default: false
  -V, --verbose         whether to print additional debug information. default: false
  -d DESKTOPS, --desktops DESKTOPS
                        comma-delimited list of desktop identifiers to use. default: Desktop,PublicDesktop
  -e EXCEPTIONS, --exceptions EXCEPTIONS
                        comma-delimited list of shortcuts never to be deleted, without the .lnk extension. default:
                        empty list
  --print-my-desktop-dir
                        outputs the user's desktop directory to stdout and exits

More examples

If you'd like to skip deleting shortcuts from the public desktop folder, you can specify the folders to be scanned with -d/--desktops:

REM This will skip "PublicDesktop", and only scan the user's own desktop folder.
>scleaner --desktops "Desktop"

Scheduling

Powershell

Add the scheduled task

Note

You may have to modify the file paths in this snippet to match your system.

This example is using the pythonw interpreter, instead of the pipx binary.

# Set your python path and the script path here.
# Note that you can use "pythonw" instead of "python" in Windows
# to prevent the console window popup for background tasks.
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction `
  -Execute "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Python\Python311\pythonw.exe" `
  -WorkingDirectory "$env:USERPROFILE\code\windows-desktop-shortcut-cleaner\src" `
  -Argument "cleaner.py -f -e `"Exception One,bar,baz`""

# Scheduling a daily cleanup at 6 AM here, see the docs for customizing:
# https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/scheduledtasks/new-scheduledtasktrigger
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 6:00am
$trigger.StartBoundary = [DateTime]::Parse($trigger.StartBoundary).ToLocalTime().ToString("s")

$settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet

Register-ScheduledTask -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -Settings $settings `
  -TaskName "Cleanup Desktop Shortcuts" `
  -Description "Removes unwanted .lnk shortcuts from the desktop folder(s)."

Remove the scheduled task

Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Cleanup Desktop Shortcuts"

Task Scheduler

If you'd prefer a graphical user interface, you can instead use the Task Scheduler app, which comes preinstalled with most Windows systems.

Contributing

PRs welcome!

• Please format your code with black.
  • The src/thirdparty directory is exempt from this rule.
• If you're making substantial changes, please open an issue for discussing them before submitting a patch.

Acknowledgements

This script was made possible by this useful utility: https://gist.github.com/mkropat/7550097, included and used here under the MIT License.

Full license text for this src/thirdparty/knownpaths.py file:

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014 Michael Kropat

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.