FlipJanson

I haven't tried doing this yet but presumably you could just make the desktop folder a symbolic link for somewhere else (like one of the folders in your menu). Then when a new program places its icon there it just goes right where you want it.

Powershell is meant to replace the command prompt, so yes you should be using it. You don't have to do anything fancy to pull it up either: right-click start (or Win+X) and press powershell. Or Win-X i/a if you want admin mode. If a user isn't already aware of those menus/shortcuts then odds are they don't have to.