Try either a System Restore to before the clutter took place on the Desktop
or CTRL + Click on every icons for the email address to select and then SHIFT
+ Delete o delete them all by passing the Recycle Bin.
Belanger,you say you "moved" them to the desktop. Did you move them
there or copy them there?
Assuming the latter, then "get[ting] rid of these critters" is fine
and Nass's delete recommendation is a good one. But since that means
clicking all those hundreds of icons individually, here's a somewhat
easier way to do it:
1. Create a temporary folder anywhere on your hard drive.
2. Copy or move all the icons on the desktop that you *do* want there
to that folder.
3. Click the desktop and press Ctrl-A to select all the icons on the
desktop.
4. Press delete (or Shift-delete) to delete everything on the desktop.
5. Go to the folder you created, and copy or move everything there
backto the desktop.
6. Delete the temporary folder you created, since you no longer need
it.
But if you do that, be extremely careful to make sure you get all the
stuff on the desktop you want.