ProblemYou want to delete "undeletable" desktop icons such as the Recycle Bin, Outlook, and Internet Explorer, but you can't delete them by highlighting them and pressing the Delete key. Unnecessary desktop icons take up screen real estate, clutter the interface, and use system RAM. SolutionUsing the Registry
Using downloadable softwareTweakUI, one of a suite of free, unsupported utilities from Microsoft called PowerToys for Windows XP, can also hide these undeletable icons. Get it from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp. After you install it and run it, go to the Desktop section, and you'll see a list of icons that can't otherwise be deleted. Uncheck the box next to any that you don't want to show up on your desktop, as shown in Figure 5-5, and click on OK. The icons will be immediately removed. To make them appear again, check the box next to them. Figure 5-5. Uncheck the boxes of icons that you want to remove from the desktop; put a check next to them to make them appear againDiscussionSome CLSIDs that you'll find in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace can be deleted from the desktop without having to edit the Registry, but when you try to delete them, they may give you a special warning message. For example, depending on your system, when you try to delete Microsoft Outlook from the desktop, you get the warning message "The Outlook Desktop icon provides special functionality and we recommend that you do not remove it." If you'd like, you can edit that message so that it displays whatever you want. In the CLSID's subkey, for example {00020D75-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} for Microsoft Outlook, you'll find the value Removal Message. Edit its value to whatever text you want, save it, and whenever someone tries to delete it, your warning message will appear. Also, keep in mind that when you remove desktop icons, you're only removing icons, not the underlying feature or program. So, for example, the Recycle Bin still works even if you remove its icon. To open the Recycle Bin, go to C:\RECYCLER and open the folder inside it. To restore an item that's been deleted, right-click on it and choose Properties Restore. You can delete items from the folder as you would any other item. See AlsoYou may find yourself with the opposite problem of not being able to delete desktop icons the Recycle Bin can, on occasion, vanish for no obvious reason. To fix the problem, see MS KB 810869, "Recycle Bin Does Not Appear on the Desktop." X-Setup Pro (http://www.x-setup.net) will solve the problem as well. |