Displaying desktop icons

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry Pinnell
  • Start date Start date
T

Terry Pinnell

It's probably an unwanted side effect of my automatic wallpaper
changer (WSS Pro), but the setting in Desktop Properties 'Arrange
Icons by' > 'Show Desktop Items' (by right clicking desktop) keeps
coming unstuck.

I normally uncheck 'Show Desktop Items', so no icons spoil my
desktop images. Minutes or hours later I'll notice that they have
reappeared, although the setting is still unchecked. To remove them
again I have to check the setting then uncheck it.

So I thought I'd try to write an external macro (using Macro Express)
which would regularly check it and turn it off if necessary. My first
attempt works OK but it relies on minimising all current windows and
restoring them. In practice that's not only distracting (every 10 mins
at present) but it doesn't always seem to return focus to the window I
happen to be in at the time. So - and here's my question! - I'm
wondering if there is a registry setting for this icon display option?
If so I'll try an alternative macro that changes it, a much neater
solution.
 
Terry said:
It's probably an unwanted side effect of my automatic wallpaper
changer (WSS Pro), but the setting in Desktop Properties 'Arrange
Icons by' > 'Show Desktop Items' (by right clicking desktop) keeps
coming unstuck.

I normally uncheck 'Show Desktop Items', so no icons spoil my
desktop images. Minutes or hours later I'll notice that they have
reappeared, although the setting is still unchecked. To remove them
again I have to check the setting then uncheck it.

So I thought I'd try to write an external macro (using Macro
Express) which would regularly check it and turn it off if
necessary. My first attempt works OK but it relies on minimising
all current windows and restoring them. In practice that's not only
distracting (every 10 mins at present) but it doesn't always seem
to return focus to the window I happen to be in at the time. So -
and here's my question! - I'm wondering if there is a registry
setting for this icon display option? If so I'll try an alternative
macro that changes it, a much neater solution.
Click to expand...

Thought about just not having any desktop icons?

You obviously do not use them. Just don't put anything on your desktop.

You can easily get rid of "My Documents" and "My Computer" and "My Network
Places" through the Display Properties --> Desktop --> Customize Desktop
method (unchecking those three boxes.)

Remove the Recycle Bin from your desktop through this registry deletion:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
or
TweakUI can remove *all* of those "System" based icons. (
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx )

Any other icons you have on your desktop - you put there. Why - only you
know - if you planned on hiding them in the first place. ;-)
 
The deletion of the Recycle Bin from the desktop is rather a one-way
fix!

You should be aware of how to 're-instate' the Recycle Bin on your
desktop before you 'delete it'.

You have been given the location of the registry key to delete in order
to remove the Recycle Bin desktop icon : export this key to a reg file
and name it 'Restore Recycle Bin.reg' BEFORE you continue in deleting
this key.

You should always exercise care when editing the registry, always create
a backup and / or create a 'System Restore' point first.


Also, about the question you asked :
You should bear in mind, though there will be a registry setting for
what you asked, when you change a setting with the Windows' interface,
it will "refresh" as is changes it. Whereas, if you were to edit the
registry directly, no "refresh" would take place so you would not see
the change. You would have to logoff /logon to force the change to
become apparent, and that would probably 'fix' your problem in the first
place.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)
 
Terry said:
It's probably an unwanted side effect of my automatic wallpaper
changer (WSS Pro), but the setting in Desktop Properties 'Arrange
Icons by' > 'Show Desktop Items' (by right clicking desktop) keeps
coming unstuck.

I normally uncheck 'Show Desktop Items', so no icons spoil my
desktop images. Minutes or hours later I'll notice that they have
reappeared, although the setting is still unchecked. To remove them
again I have to check the setting then uncheck it.

So I thought I'd try to write an external macro (using Macro Express)
which would regularly check it and turn it off if necessary. My first
attempt works OK but it relies on minimising all current windows and
restoring them. In practice that's not only distracting (every 10 mins
at present) but it doesn't always seem to return focus to the window I
happen to be in at the time. So - and here's my question! - I'm
wondering if there is a registry setting for this icon display option?
If so I'll try an alternative macro that changes it, a much neater
solution.
Click to expand...

Option #2
Create a folder and call it something like "Icons" and move them their. This
won't work with system icons but at least it will reduce the clutter and you
still have access to them.
 
Tim said:
The deletion of the Recycle Bin from the desktop is rather a one-way
fix!

You should be aware of how to 're-instate' the Recycle Bin on your
desktop before you 'delete it'.

You have been given the location of the registry key to delete in
order to remove the Recycle Bin desktop icon : export this key to a
reg file and name it 'Restore Recycle Bin.reg' BEFORE you continue
in deleting this key.

You should always exercise care when editing the registry, always
create a backup and / or create a 'System Restore' point first.


Also, about the question you asked :
You should bear in mind, though there will be a registry setting for
what you asked, when you change a setting with the Windows'
interface, it will "refresh" as is changes it. Whereas, if you
were to edit the registry directly, no "refresh" would take place
so you would not see the change. You would have to logoff /logon
to force the change to become apparent, and that would probably
'fix' your problem in the first place.
Click to expand...

Notice - I gave TweakUI as an option. TweakUI can turn off/on the display
of the Recycle Bin 'at will'.
One way? Not really. ;-)
 
Very sorry - all I noticed was the instructions to delete the registry
key :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}



==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)
 
Tim Meddick said:
Very sorry - all I noticed was the instructions to delete the registry
key :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}



==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




Shenan Stanley said:
Notice - I gave TweakUI as an option. TweakUI can turn off/on the
display of the Recycle Bin 'at will'.
One way? Not really. ;-)
Click to expand...

Thanks both, but I don't want to go down that route. I might *hide* my
desktop icons for long periods, but that's not quite the same a
*never* using them!

Do either of you know the registry setting i asked about please?
Click to expand...
 
MAP said:
Option #2
Create a folder and call it something like "Icons" and move them their. This
won't work with system icons but at least it will reduce the clutter and you
still have access to them.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, interesting idea, but it's got to be all or nothing for
me I'm afraid ;-)
 
Shenan said:
Thought about just not having any desktop icons?

You obviously do not use them. Just don't put anything on your
desktop.
You can easily get rid of "My Documents" and "My Computer" and "My
Network Places" through the Display Properties --> Desktop -->
Customize Desktop method (unchecking those three boxes.)

Remove the Recycle Bin from your desktop through this registry
deletion:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
or TweakUI can remove *all* of those "System" based icons. (
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
)
Any other icons you have on your desktop - you put there. Why - only
you know - if you planned on hiding them in the first place. ;-)
Click to expand...

To get rid of icons on the desktop: Right click open area on screen,
click Arrange Icons By, untick Show Desktop Icons to turn them off.
Turns them on too if you change your mind later. No Restart needed;
removes them as soon as you're done with the window.

Why edit the registry when what's needed is right there in front of a
person?
 
Terry said:
It's probably an unwanted side effect of my automatic wallpaper
changer (WSS Pro), but the setting in Desktop Properties 'Arrange
Icons by' > 'Show Desktop Items' (by right clicking desktop) keeps
coming unstuck.

I normally uncheck 'Show Desktop Items', so no icons spoil my
desktop images. Minutes or hours later I'll notice that they have
reappeared, although the setting is still unchecked. To remove them
again I have to check the setting then uncheck it.

So I thought I'd try to write an external macro (using Macro
Express) which would regularly check it and turn it off if
necessary. My first attempt works OK but it relies on minimising
all current windows and restoring them. In practice that's not only
distracting (every 10 mins at present) but it doesn't always seem
to return focus to the window I happen to be in at the time. So -
and here's my question! - I'm wondering if there is a registry
setting for this icon display option? If so I'll try an alternative
macro that changes it, a much neater solution.
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
Thought about just not having any desktop icons?

You obviously do not use them. Just don't put anything on your
desktop.
You can easily get rid of "My Documents" and "My Computer" and "My
Network Places" through the Display Properties --> Desktop -->
Customize Desktop method (unchecking those three boxes.)

Remove the Recycle Bin from your desktop through this registry
deletion:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
or TweakUI can remove *all* of those "System" based icons. (
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx
)
Any other icons you have on your desktop - you put there. Why -
only you know - if you planned on hiding them in the first place.
;-)
Click to expand...
To get rid of icons on the desktop: Right click open area on screen,
click Arrange Icons By, untick Show Desktop Icons to turn them off.
Turns them on too if you change your mind later. No Restart needed;
removes them as soon as you're done with the window.

Why edit the registry when what's needed is right there in front of
a person?
Click to expand...
Oops; belay that; didn't read close enough.
Click to expand...

*grin*

If one did not know better, one might believe you were just reading *my
response* to the original query in order to rebuke whatever I wrote instead
of the OPs original query and then my response (given the first sentence of
the original post said the same thing you did, except ending with the actual
problem at hand.) ;-)
 
Terry,
the registry setting that you were wanting is the following :

------------------------ [copy] ------------------------

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"HideIcons"=dword:00000001

------------------------ [copy] ------------------------

....and, obviously the 'undo' for this would be a value of '0' [zero]
instead of '1'.

However, I will repeat myself, the setting of this registry value will
*not* 'refresh' the screen (to make the icons disappear) and you will
probably have to logoff / logon to make the change apparent.

I do believe in giving people the answers that they ask for, though.
Whatever their reasons for asking what they ask, why deny someone the
answer, when you know it, out of some misplaced sense of protectiveness
that smacks of being patronizing in the extreme?

I have written your registry answer in the form of a .reg file. To
re-create the .reg file, just 'copy and paste' the text between the
[copy] lines (excluding the [copy] lines) into a text file using
notepad, and re-name the file with a .reg extension (you will have to
have 'Hide extensions for known file types' switched off in 'Control
Panel' > 'Folder Options' > View first, or re-name it in a 'Command
Prompt' window, where file extensions are always visible).

If you'd like to discover obscure registry settings for yourself, I use
'Regshot' - a small, [tiny] easy-to-use program, which takes a
'snapshot' of the registry, once before a change has been made, and once
after. Then there is a third 'compare' button, the results of which are
displayed in the form of a text file.

You can download 'Regshot' 1.8.2 by clicking on the link below :

http://download.softpedia.com/dl/95...1337/software/tweak/regshot_1.8.2_src_bin.zip

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)
 
Tim Meddick said:
Terry,
the registry setting that you were wanting is the following :

------------------------ [copy] ------------------------

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"HideIcons"=dword:00000001

------------------------ [copy] ------------------------

...and, obviously the 'undo' for this would be a value of '0' [zero]
instead of '1'.

However, I will repeat myself, the setting of this registry value will
*not* 'refresh' the screen (to make the icons disappear) and you will
probably have to logoff / logon to make the change apparent.

I do believe in giving people the answers that they ask for, though.
Whatever their reasons for asking what they ask, why deny someone the
answer, when you know it, out of some misplaced sense of protectiveness
that smacks of being patronizing in the extreme?

I have written your registry answer in the form of a .reg file. To
re-create the .reg file, just 'copy and paste' the text between the
[copy] lines (excluding the [copy] lines) into a text file using
notepad, and re-name the file with a .reg extension (you will have to
have 'Hide extensions for known file types' switched off in 'Control
Panel' > 'Folder Options' > View first, or re-name it in a 'Command
Prompt' window, where file extensions are always visible).

If you'd like to discover obscure registry settings for yourself, I use
'Regshot' - a small, [tiny] easy-to-use program, which takes a
'snapshot' of the registry, once before a change has been made, and once
after. Then there is a third 'compare' button, the results of which are
displayed in the form of a text file.

You can download 'Regshot' 1.8.2 by clicking on the link below :

http://download.softpedia.com/dl/95...1337/software/tweak/regshot_1.8.2_src_bin.zip

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




Terry Pinnell said:
Thanks Mike, interesting idea, but it's got to be all or nothing for
me I'm afraid ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Solid post, many thanks Tim! Following up now.
 
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