Desktop Icon Hiding

Greetings!! I have many icons on my desktop and want to know what the keyboard shortcut for hiding them is. When I do public presentations, I don't want my desktop icons visible on the display. I saw a guy do this in a meeting but didn't get a chance to ask him how he does it.
Can anyone help??

From a recent article in MacFixit:
Performance tip: Keep the Desktop clutter-free (empty, if possible)
Mac OS X's Desktop is the de facto location for downloaded files, and for many users, in-progress works that will either be organized later or deleted altogether. The desktop can also be gluttonous, however, becoming a catch-all for files that linger indefinitely.
Unfortunately -- aside from the effect of disarray it creates -- keeping dozens or hundreds of files on the Desktop can significantly degrade performance. Not necessarily because the system is sluggish with regard to rendering the icons on the desktop and storing them in memory persistently (which may be true in some cases), but more likely because keeping an excessive number of items on the Desktop can cause the windowserver process to generate reams of logfiles, which obviously draws resources away from other system tasks.
As such, keeping as few items as possible on the Desktop prove a surprisingly effective performance boon. Even creating a single folder on your Desktop and placing all current and future clutter inside, then logging out and back in can provide an immediately noticeable speed boost -- particularly for the Finder.

Similar Messages

Applescript for hiding desktop-icons?

Hi,
Is there a script for hiding the desktop-icons or moving them (temporarily)
to a map (on my extra harddisc) ,so I have a plain-colored background for working with Logic?
Ron.

Hi Chachi,
Thanks for the script!!
The second time I run it ,it returns to the desktop like it was.Nice work!
When I close (by accident) the computer without returning to the desktop with icons, will it still be possible to return to it the next time I open the computer and I run the script?
And is it not "straining"(?) the computer?
A few days ago I downloaded "Desktop Curtain" .
I made a simple script to run it together with logic.
tell application "Desktop Curtain" to activate
tell application "Logic Pro" to activate
(I didn't need a 'end tell' at the end?)
If I want, it covers the desktop (also the image on my desktop!) with a plain color of my choice.
But it covers only one monitor, and I have two monitors.
Is it possible to make a script to also cover the second monitor?
Maybe with a second Desktop Curtain?
Greetings. Ron.

Can i hide desktop icons?

is it possible to have no icons on the desktop showing.
for example, in windows i just right click on the desktop, arrange icons by, and then click show desktop icons. which either hides/shows the desktop icons.
is it possible to do something similar with mac?

hiya,
when i put a '.' in front of the file name, it comes up with a message saying "...these names are reserved for the system".
if i can help it, i don't want to install a programme, just so i can use one of its features i.e. hiding desktop icons.
the reason i want to hide my desktop icons is so i can just see my wallpaper.
is there no simple, say for example, turn on/off desktop icons? or something along those lines?
thanks.

Hide Desktop Icons

Hello all,
I have seen various posts around the place about hiding your desktop icons by turning the desktop "off", but i would like to hide select icons of my choice.
Mainly I would like to hide the hard drive icon, but i cant work it out? Does anyone have any ideas?
Cheers,
r00tb00t

in addition to what francine said, i find it useful to turn off the selection for hard drives showing up as i have tons of partitions and drives, some of which are clones of other ones etc, but I then make an alias of the ones that i decide i DO want on the desktop.
even better in leopard is that you can hide certain options that still leaves a newly inserted CD showing up on the desktop, without tons of other ipod's and disks showing up that you don't want. up until leopard i think the new CD remained hidden along with other removable drives and disks.

XFCE4 Desktop icons

How would I go about hiding the desktop icons for trash, home, etc in xfce but still having it so files show on it?
EDIT - got it through the ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/xfdesktoprc
file.
Now is there a way for xfdesktop to load after compiz? I have the icons set up so the background of them is slighly transparent, but after compiz loads they go flat black until I click them.
Last edited by Reasons (2008-01-17 03:03:47)

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xfc … refresh.3F
Taken from the Wiki: "Don't forget to add 'fam' to the list of DAEMONS in /etc/rc.conf"

Help! Desktop icons gone, no right click ... and Nautilus crashes!

I have a fully upgraded Gnome-based system, and all of a sudden my desktop icons disappeared, clicking on the desktop does nothing, and every time I use Nautilus it crashes with the error (from bug report):
Distribution: Unknown
Gnome Release: 2.24.3 2009-01-20 (Archlinux)
BugBuddy Version: 2.24.2
System: Linux 2.6.28-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jan 18 20:17:17 UTC 2009 i686
X Vendor: The X.Org Foundation
X Vendor Release: 10503000
Selinux: No
Accessibility: Disabled
GTK+ Theme: Glider
Icon Theme: Foxtrot
Memory status: size: 0 vsize: 0 resident: 0 share: 0 rss: 0 rss_rlim: 0
CPU usage: start_time: 0 rtime: 0 utime: 0 stime: 0 cutime:0 cstime: 0 timeout: 0 it_real_value: 0 frequency: 0
----------- .xsession-errors (6 sec old) ---------------------
seahorse nautilus module initialized
** (nautilus:9421): WARNING **: Unable to add monitor: Not supported
** (nautilus:9421): WARNING **: Unable to add monitor: Not supported
--- Hash table keys for warning below:
--> file:///home/user
--> file:///home
(nautilus:9421): Eel-WARNING **: "nautilus-metafile.c: metafiles" hash table still has 2 elements at quit time (keys above)
(nautilus:9421): Eel-WARNING **: "nautilus-directory.c: directories" hash table still has 2 elements at quit time
seahorse nautilus module shutdown
Shutting down nautilus-open-terminal extension
It doesn't seem to be an options or configuration thing, maybe more like some sort of corruption? The Panels are fine. I have checked desktop and Nautilus options using Gconf and tried recreating ~/.gconf etc. The only suspicious occurrence was when, in the middle of a pacman -Syu, I was thrown back to the GDM login prompt. I just logged in again and did another pacman -Syu and everything seemed okay.
By the way, running Nautilus as root does show root's desktop okay, but Nautilus still crashes.
Any help would be most welcome for a very frustrating problem!
PS: Forgot to say that I'd tried reinstalling quite a few Gnome things and Nautilus, with no effect.
Also, the problem persists after restarting X, logon, reboot, power-off ...
Last edited by ninian (2009-01-21 09:35:05)

Uh-oh, seems like this problem could go wider than I thought. There's a fairly lengthy thread on the Ubuntu forums which smells the same, for example:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= … stcount=42 =>
Re: Desktop icons disappear
Got it! I can get a crash with this:
Code:
mkdir ~/test
cp /usr/share/applications/compiz.desktop ~/test/
nautilus ~/test
I'm going to leave a comment in the bug.
And in fact, I was mucking around with .desktop files when I think my icons went AWOL.
Anyone else brave enough to risk losing their desktop to try this out?!

All my desktop icons are Adobe Reader icons, can't access related files

I was trying to open a file this morning, and when a pop-menu asked what application I wanted to choose (from a list) to open it, I clicked on Adobe Reader - just as a guess. After that, just about all my desktop icons are Adobe icons, and when I click on them, the pop up menus says I can't access the file. These icons also show up on my menu of all my MS Office programs like Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.
Tech support at Adobe recommended I use System Restore, but it also is now an Adobe icon, so I can't open it. If anyone can help reverse this, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
David

Hi,
This also happened to me this morning. Now all my icons are PDF symbols and Reader opens when I try to open any other program. I uninstalled Reader it and it fixed itself but when I reinstalled the program the same issue occurred.
I wanted to make PDF reader the default application when openning PDF's vs. Distiller, tinkered and broke my computer.
Any clues on how to bring everything back to normaL?

Why have all my desktop icons changed to PDF when I installed Reader?

I just installed Adobe Reader, and all of my desktop icons have changed, and nothing will open. How can I fix this?

Hi Carol ,
This seems to happen just because the file associations of the files and folders have been changed and because of that you are experiencing this issue .
To change file associations you could refer the following link and see if that fixes the issue .This link is for windows 7 .
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows/change-default-programs#1TC=windows-7
Please follow the given steps and see if that works for you .
Fell free to write us back in case you face any difficulties .We would be happy to assist you .
Regards
Sukrit Dhingra

I deleted my desktop icon - now I can't save things to the desktop!

After a complete meltdown of my computer (and thank GOD I backed everything up!!) ... I'm transferring everything back to my iMac from an external drive ... BUT, I deleted the little "desktop" icon from my finder folder - or more like, I dragged a desktop folder from the external hard drive and "replaced" the desktop icon.
Now I can't save anything to the desktop. When I drag something to the desktop it says "The item cannot be moved because the 'desktop' cannot be modified."
Is there a way to get this back???

No ...
Under "Ownership & Permission" is says "You can - Read & Write", so that's not the issue.
What I did was:
When you open the finder window, there are several icons that appear in the window - usually the Desktop icon, the Home icon, the Applications icon, the Documents icon, the Movies icon, the Music icon and the Pictures icon.
What I did was, I dragged a "Desktop FOLDER" over from an external hard drive and it asked me if I wanted to replace the Desktop. I said "Yes" and now I no longer have the DESKTOP ICON on the left side of the finder window and I can no longer drag and drop things to the desktop.
The desktop icon no longer exists, so I can't access my desktop VIA the finder window.
Does this make sense?

[Solved]Conky causes desktop icons to dissappear

I decided to fool around with conky, since I saw the thread lower down in the forums. I kinda mashed some code together and I have a conky I like (though I cant get all the modules working...) but, activating conky causes my desktop icons to dissapear (and re-appear if I mouse over). It's my frist time actually using conky...so I might have messed up something in my (well, a mash of other's) code.
# set to yes if you want tormo to be forked in the background
background yes
cpu_avg_samples 2
net_avg_samples 2
out_to_console no
# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel
#font 7x12
#font *mintsmild.se*
# Use Xft?
use_xft yes
# Xft font when Xft is enabled
xftfont Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:size=8
# Text alpha when using Xft
xftalpha 0.8
# mail spool
#mail_spool $MAIL
# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 1
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window no
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes
# Minimum size of text area
minimum_size 230 5
maximum_width 250
# Draw shades?
draw_shades no
# Draw outlines?
draw_outline no
# Draw borders around text
draw_borders no
# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 8
# border margins
border_margin 4
# border width
border_width 1
# Default colors and also border colors
default_color white
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color black
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
#alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
alignment bottom_right
# Gap between borders of screen and text
gap_x 13
gap_y 25
# Add spaces to keep things from moving about? This only affects certain objects.
use_spacer no
# Subtract file system buffers from used memory?
no_buffers yes
# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
uppercase no
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
TEXT
${color #88aadd}$nodename - $sysname$kernel $machine
$hr
${color lightgrey}
${execp ~/.conkycalendar.sh}
#$hr
#${execi -l ~/.conkyforecast.py}
$hr
${color #88aadd}System Info:
${color lightgrey}CORE 0:${color} ${cpu 0}${color lightgrey}% ${alignr}${offset -49}${color}${freq_g 0} ${color lightgrey}Ghz
${color lightgrey}CORE 1:${color} ${cpu 1}${color lightgrey}% ${alignr}${offset -49}${color}${freq_g 1} ${color lightgrey}Ghz
${color lightgrey}CORE 2:${color} ${cpu 2}${color lightgrey}% ${alignr}${offset -49}${color}${freq_g 2} ${color lightgrey}Ghz
${color lightgrey}Uptime: ${color}$uptime
${color lightgrey}Processes:$color $running_processes/$processes ${offset 6}${color lightgrey}Load:$color ${loadavg 3}
${color lightgrey}RAM:$color $mem${color lightgrey} /${color}$memmax ( $memperc% )
${color lightgrey}Swap:$color $swap${color lightgrey} / ${color}$swapmax ( $swapperc% )
$hr
${color #88aadd}Top CPU:
${color lightgrey}Name CPU%
${color lightgrey}${top name 1} ${top cpu 1}%
${color lightgrey}${top name 2} ${top cpu 2}%
${color lightgrey}${top name 3} ${top cpu 3}%
${color lightgrey}${top name 4} ${top cpu 4}%
$hr
${color #88aadd}Top Memory:
${color lightgrey}Name PID CPU% MEM%
${color}${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1}
${color}${top_mem name 2} ${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2}
${color}${top_mem name 3} ${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3}
${color}${top_mem name 4} ${top_mem pid 4} ${top_mem cpu 4} ${top_mem mem 4}
$hr
${color #88aadd}Network:
${color lightgrey}Net: $color${addr eth0}${offset 6}${color lightgrey}
#Essid: ${color}${exec sudo iwconfig eth0 | grep "ESSID" | cut -c 32-45}
${color lightgrey}Up:${color} ${upspeedf eth0} k/s${color lightgrey}${alignr}${color lightgrey}Tot:${color} ${totalup eth0} ${color lightgrey}
${color lightgrey}Down: ${color}${downspeedf eth0} k/s ${alignr}${color lightgrey}Tot:${color} ${totaldown eth0}
Local Ip ${alignr}${addr eth0}
Public Ip ${alignr}${execp ~/.conkyip.sh}
$hr
${voffset 5}${color #88aadd}Disks:
/ $color${fs_used /} / ${fs_size} (${fs_free /})${fs_used_perc /}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}Win7 $color${fs_used /media/Windows7} / ${fs_size /media/Windows7} (${fs_free /media/Windows7})${fs_used_perc /media/Windows7}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}DataI $color${fs_used /media/DATA} / ${fs_size /media/DATA} (${fs_free /media/DATA})${fs_used_perc /media/DATA}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}DataII $color${fs_used /media/DataII} / ${fs_size /media/DataII} (${fs_free /media/DataII})${fs_used_perc /media/DataII}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
${color #88aadd}Win7 $color${fs_used /media/DataII} / ${fs_size /media/DataII} (${fs_free /media/DataII})${fs_used_perc /media/DataII}${color lightgrey}%${offset 5}
#$hr
#${color #88aadd}Banshee - ${execi 15 ~/conkyshee.py --status}${alignr}#${offset -22}
# $color artist: ${color #88aadd}${execi 15 ~/conkyshee.py --artist}
# $color track: ${color #88aadd}${execi 15 ~/conkyshee.py --title}${voffset 5}
Last edited by JerichoKru (2010-02-01 06:55:18)

Maybe try:
double_buffer yes
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_hints undecorate,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

All of a sudden my itunes wont come up when i hit the desktop icon. un and re installed many times, tried new users, it finally gave me "you need to reinstall sqmapi.dll " im a noob and i have know idea what that is or where i can get it. i cant open any

all of a sudden my itunes wont come up when i hit the desktop icon. un and re installed many times, tried new users, it finally gave me "you need to reinstall sqmapi.dll " im a noob and i have know idea what that is or where i can get it. i cant open any file or library that has anything to do with itunes except safari and quicktime are fine. im about to pull out whats left of my hair.

Okay, that's got one thing ruled out at least.
Can you check something for me, big? I'd like to see if iTunes launches with the Bonjour Service disabled.
In your Start menu, right-click Computer and select "Manage".
Expand "Services & Applications".
Open "Services". (Perhaps maximise the screen to better see what's going on.)
Right-click the Bonjour Service and select "Properties".
In the General tab, set the Startup type to "Disabled":
... and click OK.
Restart the PC and try launching iTunes. Does it open this time?

I keep getting the message, "Windows cannot find 'c:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again." I get it when I either try to open it from the Start menu or from the desktop icon.

I've just installed Firefox on my laptop and keep getting the message, "Windows cannot find 'c:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again." I get this message whenever I either try to open it from the Start menu or from the desktop icon. I've never gotten it to work and even uninstalled it and then redownloaded it and still cannot get it to open. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Are you installing from the official site? http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
If you use Windows Explorer (My Computer) to check that path, is the Mozilla Firefox folder there? That is the normal installation location, but I think it's worth checking.
If the folder isn't there or firefox.exe is not in it, I wonder whether some other software might be interfering. You might want to run some supplemental security scans. These two tools are highly regarded:
Malwarebytes Anti-malware : http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
SUPERAntiSpyware : http://www.superantispyware.com/

I had Firefix, however I downloaded the newest Firefox along with all plugins. Now when I click in the desktop icon firefox refuses to open my default webpage. Why?

I run Windows 7. I downloaded Firefox 6.0 for Windows which resulted in the following which I cannot fix:
"I had Firefix, however I downloaded the newest Firefox along with all plugins. Now when I click in the desktop icon firefox refuses to open my default webpage. Why?....How do I fix this"
I can go to internet explorer or AOL and it opens right up to my homepage but not when I click on Firefox.

That problem can be caused by the Yahoo! Toolbar that extents too much downwards and covers the top part of the browser window and thus makes links in that part of the screen not clickable.
*https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Start Firefox in <u>[[Safe Mode]]</u> to check if one of the extensions or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).
*Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
*https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode

I have to re-install Firefox everyday, when I click on the desktop icon, it does not open.

When i double click the desktop icon Firefox to open it, nothing happens. I have to install the program from the setup file again. This happens everyday, it used to only happen maybe once every 2-3 months, now it's all the time. Any advice?
Aaron

Please update to the current Firefox 25.0.1 release.
*Help > About Firefox
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/update-firefox-latest-version.
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Updating+Firefox
Download and save the Firefox installer to the desktop and start the installation with a double-click on the desktop icon.
You can find the full version of the latest Firefox 25.0.1 release in all languages and for all Operating Systems here:
*http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html
It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Server+not+found
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firewalls
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/fix-problems-connecting-websites-after-updating

When trying to creat a desktop icon, it does not go to the URL.....instead I get 'script' and not a website......the script has http//etc but I am not directed to the website......I previously had IE 8 (on Vista).....is that the problem...

Question
When trying to create a desktop icon, it does not go to the URL.....instead I get 'script' and not a website......the script has http//etc but I am not directed to the website......I previously had IE 8 (on Vista).....is that the problem?I do not have any installed plugins....at least none that I know of.....remember I am a new user......Basically, the desktop icon is not going directly to the Mozilla FF to get me to the web site I need to go to.....FF works when I use the Mozilla FF icon.....just not the icons I create.....THANKS!!! I have also tried reinstalling FF and get the same results.....HELP!!!

The address beginning with file:/// denotes a saved file (local file). The file may not be present. You can try dragging the site icon of this page on the left edge of the location (Address) bar and release it on the desktop. Please try opening it. If it still shows an error it could be a problem with the system's zone permissions. You can try setting each zone in the Windows Control Panel or IE > '''Internet Options''' > '''Security''' tab to '''Default Level'''.

Desktop Icon Hiding

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