My Downloads folder is Desktop, I like to keep it iconless so it prevents me from hoarding, besides it is located in ramdisk (PC reset would remove anything good or bad), the size is limited as well, so I have no choice, but to keep it clean. If I want to download something bigger like ISO, I switch to D: temporarily.
I can clean it with a click of a button, so I can download, unpack and make all kind of a mess and then just get rid of all of it within a second.
Code:
del "%SystemDrive%\Users\Public\Desktop\*" /s /f /q
del "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\*" /s /f /q
rd "Z:\Desktop" /s /q
md "Z:\Desktop"
As for the Downloads folder, I use for important files/shortcuts, used daily, because it is the only folder, that can be setup as a startup folder in Explorer.