These 3 settings make Linux Mint look cleaner and feel snappier

Published Oct 15, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Rich Hein is a veteran technology journalist with more than two decades covering developer, consumer and enterprise topics. Rich's career has been dedicated to service journalism, connecting readers to content that informs and delights. Previously, Rich was vice president and editor-in-chief for Simpler Media Group, director of audience development for IDG and editor/writer for sites like CIO.com, ComputerWorld, CodeGuru and other tech-centric publications. He's received numerous accolades, including the IDG Summit and Azbee awards and has been covered by Medium for his work in audience development. When not at his desk, Rich lives in Daytona Beach with his wife and three dogs. He enjoys playing guitar, surfing and staying abreast of the latest in tech. It's fair to say that I am a lifelong Windows user. Pretty much everywhere I’ve worked has required me to use a Windows PC. More recently, I've begun to rely on Linux. At first, it was a way to extend the life of my old Windows 10 machines, but the more I used it, the more I realized there was very little keeping me on Windows. My favorite Linux distros are the ones that are closely modeled after Windows. While the underlying operating systems may work differently from Windows, they have a look and feel that works for me. I've grown to appreciate Linux Mint because the Cinnamon desktop feels more familiar to me. I'm not interested in unlearning familiar workflows or working in the terminal in order to get the job done. I run Linux Mint on an older Dell computer that is not impressive at all by today's standards, and even without making any adjustments, Mint runs surprisingly well on it. But as with many things in life, I'm rarely happy with what I've got, and I thought I could try to make the desktop a little cleaner and the machine itself a little snappier. I wasn't looking for third-party apps or new hardware, just a way to get the most out of this PC and Linux Mint. I focused on three simple changes, and while none of them are dramatic, together they made Mint feel a little more responsive and enjoyable to use. Disabling animations made my desktop feel more responsive Less polish, more snap Like Windows, Linux Mint’s Cinnamon desktop uses animations and effects that appear when opening and closing applications or switching between windows. These effects are designed to make the UI feel more polished, but they aren’t really necessary. I thought eliminating them would make the desktop feel more responsive. To turn off the animations, open the Linux Mint application menu and go to System Settings > Effects. At the top of the window, you'll see a toggle called Desktop and window effects. Switch it off, and the animations disappear immediately. There's no need to restart your computer or log out. If you'd rather keep the animations, you can move the Window animation speed slider toward Faster to shorten them instead of turning them off completely. I just turned them off completely. With the animations disabled, the desktop did feel a little more responsive. I didn’t have to wait for visual transitions any longer. That's fine for me. I don't miss them at all. I stopped unnecessary applications from launching at startup Not everything needs to run when Linux Mint starts Mint launches some applications at startup, just like Windows does. Initially, these are mostly basic utilities and apps, but over time, you'll likely find something you don't need running at startup. For example, I don't use Bluetooth on this machine, so I disabled Blueman Bluetooth Manager at startup. We’re not uninstalling apps. We’re just stopping them from running as soon as you log in. To do this, open the Linux Mint application menu and search for Startup Applications. You'll see a list of programs and utilities with toggles next to them. Scroll through the list, find the ones you don't need, and switch them off. It's that simple. The changes take effect the next time you log in, and you can always return to this screen to turn something back on. I'd avoid disabling anything you don't recognize without checking what it does first, since some entries are needed for the system to run normally. Hiding desktop icons gave me a cleaner workspace Less clutter, fewer distractions Over time, my desktop got cluttered with application shortcuts, images, and other files I wasn't using. The desktop is a great place to put something when you're working, but too often, things get left there and accumulate. Clearing all of this out gave my desktop a cleaner, less distracting look and feel. It doesn’t improve performance, but it does make me feel a little more organized. I started by moving screenshots and other files into folders and getting rid of shortcuts I wasn't using. To hide Linux Mint's built-in desktop icons, open System Settings > Desktop. From there, you can turn off icons for Computer, Home, Trash, Network, and Mounted Drives. The changes take effect immediately, and you can still access those locations through the file manager. Keep in mind that these settings only affect Linux Mint's built-in icons. Small changes that were worth making I wouldn't say these changes made my old Dell dramatically faster, but I can tell the difference. The desktop feels a little quicker, and I like not having a bunch of unnecessary icons and files staring back at me every time I minimize a window. I also don't see much point in having applications running in the background if I'm not using them. It only took me a few minutes to make these changes. Linux Mint was already running well on this machine, but I like it a little better now.