make my desktop icons dissapear!

[Verruckt]

Is there any way to hide the desktop icons *without* using active desktop (and the "show desktop icons" option)?
Is there a 3rd party app that will hide ALL icons on the desktop?

Active desktop makes the memory usage of explorer.exe (my current shell) act all wierd (and go UP).

...thanks...

 

[Psychoholic]

Would you like to tell us the OS you're using???

 

[Ladi]

You could try TweakUI. Different versions exist for different operating systems. Try searching MS site or NTFAQ.

~Ladi

 

[HardwareAddicted]

This will get your icons gone...

Try this....I love it.

 

[Psychoholic]

You've got a link problem HardwareAddicted.

You can use Policy Editor to do this. The reason I asked for OS is the way you go about this depends upon the which one you're using.

 

[HardwareAddicted]

Sorry 'bout that...
Here is the add for this,

http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-1461982-100-884586.html?tag=st.dl.10001_103_1.lst.td_884586

If you have any probs, go to http://download.cnet.com and search for "cool bananas",
you should get two files and the top one is the one I was trying to give to you.

H-A

 

[HardwareAddicted]

Or just try searching for "cool desktop"

That works too

 

[Lunchboxah]

HardwareAddicted's solution is ok, but Psycho's is the one I'd recommend. Why run a third party app that uses memory space to do what Poledit.exe (%winsetupcd%\admin\poledit\) can do. The whole reason you didn't wanna use Active Desktop is memory anyway...

Policy Editor is simple. Open/Registry/Select file in default dir/Local Computer (i think)

 

[Ladi]

Okay boys&girls...what's wrong with TweakUI? Easier to use, less likely to f*ck up the system as an inexperienced PolEdit user can do...

~Ladi

 

[Psychoholic]

Maybe I'm wrong since I only have a few select functions I use TweakUI for, but I don't think you can disable all desktop icons with it.

 

[Verruckt]

wow...thanks for all the feedback...

1)I am running win2k pro, sp1...

2)both the mmc->group policies and the program CoolDesktop have the same problem - they turn off the desktop...I do not really want to turn off the desktop (yet), just hide all the icons.

3)My main (only) problem(s) with turning off the desktop entirely are that it screws up autohide with the taskbar (if nothing is active, the taskbar stays shown, and usually I can just select the desktop - thus making it active - to hide the taskbar if I have no open applications. This does not work if the desktop is turned off). The other minor problem is that with the desktop disabled I no longer have access to the right-click menu...but that is not too bad as I can get to all the options via other shortcuts and apps...

3)never heard of poledit - I'll have to play around with it...

thanks again for all the feedback...and keep it coming! If this works out well for me maybe I will write an article about it for my site... :-D