The Downloads folder on my laptop is a gathering of files. It’s the standard folder where your webbrowser saves the files you download from the web. Most of these files are only needed for a short period. The files you want te keep don’t belong in this folder. They need to be moved elsewhere, right?
Conclusion: The Downloads folder should be empty.
I made a small script which is run everytime I boot my laptop. It just removes every file or folder inside the Downloads folder. It’s one of the tweaks I love the most in my laptop.
in /etc/rc.local:
#!/bin/sh -e # # rc.local # # This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel. # Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other # value on error. # # In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution # bits. # # By default this script does nothing. rm -rf /home/user/Downloads/* exit 0
And make it executable with:
chmod +x /etc/rc.local
Now, every time you boot your computer the specified directory will be emptied.
Everytime I download a file which I would like to keep. I’m forced to move it right away to another folder. I can use the Downloads folder to temporarily unzip archives or build applications.