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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
There is another nice program that deals with desktop icons. It is called “Iconoid” and it is FREE. One can control whether the icons are viewed or not and for how long. It is easy to use. You might want to check it out.
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Skykisser,
There are many “Desktop managers” and interesting methods for .. um, er, ‘managing’ how things appear. I had not heard of Iconoid, but I looked at it and I agree it may be of interest to people (it can be found here). Note: the website says it works on XP and Vista, x86 or x64, but not yet on Windows 7.
I thank you.
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Try Fences (free) from Stardock.
Nice overview by Scott Hanselman here:
Herding Cats: Organize your Desktop Icons with Stardock Fences for Windows
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Amber,
Thank you for your suggestion. As I said to Skykisser, there are many such utilities.
I am of the school of thought that emphasizes a lean machine, and I am reluctant to add any more programs than are absolutely necessary, so I won’t be trying Fences, but the link is there for those who are curious.
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“I am of the school of thought that emphasizes a lean machine, and I am reluctant to add any more programs than are absolutely necessary”– Same here… ;) Why bother for something when the motive can be achieved w/o it. . . . ?!
It may be a bit annoying but far better than adding some useless clutter…
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Ranjan,
Most Desktop Managers are very small and light-weight, and I do not begrudge anyone’s personal preferences or choices of software/”personalizations”. A lot of fun can be had with tweaks and wallpapers/Themes/etc..
But for me, I prefer the fewest possible Startup entries and running Services, as I sit at my machines long enough each day to notice every millisecond delay. I use the latest hardware, so I see how it performs. And, my knowledge of Windows means I don’t need things to be made “1-click Simple” with a “helper” program. But I am unusual in this: in my experience, most people are not concerned with milliseconds, and prefer that as many things as possible be 1-click Simple and/or set-it-and-forget-it.
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TechPaul,
If you want to keep your desktop clear, hide the icons as you indicated; THEN go to the windows taskbar, right click, select “Toolbars”, then click on “Desktop”. This creates a toolbar menu on the taskbar with all of your desktop shortcuts, etc…
I prefer a clean desktop (no icons) and then I use a menu launcher that I open/close at the click of the mouse at any location on the screen called 8start…
Rick
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Rick,
I remember your write up on 8start (A Challenging but GREAT Program Launcher) and I will count you as one of the “minimalists”.
(And, I won’t show you my work laptop’s Desktop… I have to kill the Sidebar to see all my icons.)
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