Hide desktop in background?

in OS 9 there was a checkbox in the General Controls panel to "Hide Desktop in Background" - the desktop picture would remain, but all the icons would disappear.
is there any way to do this in OS X?

506/2952
--> Quit the Finder.
To add a "Quit Finder" (⌘Q) in the Finder menu, you can use OnyX, TinkerTool or such an utility, or enter this Terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -boolean true;killall Finder
To remove it, use this command:
defaults delete com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem;killall Finder
(but why would you remove it?)
The Finder is like any other application: it will reopen by clicking its Dock icon, and it will stay closed while using other applications.
I don't know of a way to achieve the same OS 9 behaviour without quitting Finder.
HTH
Axl

Similar Messages

How do I restore images and backgrounds. Hide images and backgrounds will not unclick.

Back grounds in email cannot be restored
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== I clicked on "hide images and backgrounds" and it will not unclick.

Check the image exceptions: Tools > Options > Content: Load Images: Exceptions - See [[Options window - Content panel]]
A way to see which images are blocked is to click the favicon (''Site Identification'' icon) on the left side of the location bar and click the "More Information" button.
This will open the Security tab of the ''Page Info'' window (also accessible via Tools > Page Info).
Go to the ''Media'' tab of that Page Info window.
Select the first image and scroll down though the list with the Down arrow.
If an image is grayed and there is a check-mark in the box ''Block Images from...'' then remove that mark to unblock the images from that domain.
See also [[Images or animations do not show]] and http://kb.mozillazine.org/Images_or_animations_do_not_load

Hide desktop in awesome wm

i use awesome as my window manager, and used to using pcmanfm and thunar as my primary file manager; i just install nautilus today, and when i start nautilus, there shows a desktop in the background with computer/trash/home icon etc. how can i hide this ??

Start nautilus with the --no-desktop argument.

How to hide desktop in finder?

When I go to an app, I don't want to see the finder in the bg. is that possible?

Two reasons, I would still see the file folders and
hard drive.
I keep my hard drive in the dock. And I keep all my files and folders in appropriate places in my home directory, not on the desktop, so there are no icons on my desktop at all.
and I want a bg photo when I do go to the
finder.
I don't think there is any way to do what you want to do (show a background image only when the Finder is the active application)

Is it possible to hide desktop folders until needed

MacBookPro screen real estate limited. Folders and other junk on my desktop can be distracting on top of that.
Is it possible to hide them until I need them?

You can eliminate mounted volumes via Finder Preferences>General
You can reduce folder clutter by being neater!
But if you really want to hide everything on your Desktop, then download the free utility TinkerTool, and use this option:
To make the Desktop objects visible again, re-run TinkerTool and uncheck that box.

How to block the desktop picture /background from changing?

Since I have the Magic Mouse, some time my background changes the desktop photo
It happens when I move a photo in iPhoto or even when I move it on the desktop: I guess it happens
with the combination of the mouse and my movements with the fingers on the mouse itself
Never happened before. Every system preferences has a lock but the desktop.
Any good idea would be much appreciated : )

as you say there is no lock in that preference pane. you can do the following. set the desktop background as you want. in finder go to home directory/library/preferences. select the file com.apple.desktop.plist and enter command+i. in the resulting popup check the box "locked". this file contains preferences for desktop background and locking it will prevent any changes to the desktop background until you unlock it.

IPhoto slideshow reveals partial desktop in background

When I view a slideshow with my display (resolution is 1360x768), iPhoto doesn't fully blacken out the background. I can see my desktop in a vertical strip down the right, about 100 pixels wide. Is this because IPhoto will not display properly at this resolution?

No, of course not. But doesn't iPhoto have the capability to display in 16:9 without stretching, AND filling the entire screen?
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the black background behind the slideshow photos. My problem is that the black area doesn't fill the entire screen. There's an area on the right where I can see my desktop and icons.

Hide desktop icons on secondary monitor?

I have these command scripts in my Dock and click on them when I want to hide or show desktop icons:
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop false
killall Finder
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true
killall Finder
It works great. My question is, how do I write these so they hide the desktop icons on my secondary monitor?
Thanks!

Never mind... restarting fixed the problem.

Neutral desktop workspace / background in CS3

When I used PS CS3 on my Windows machine, it would auto put a gray background on the desktop when PS launched. I like this b/c it covered up all other applications that were open. On my MAC - it opens just the top menu bar and the tool bars but everything else shows. When I open a new doc, it opens up a window that sits over the other windows / apps. I realize I can hit F to change the b'ground to gray / black, BUT this enlarges the entire doc window. I want to see several individual docs open and be able to move them around on the gray background at any given time. Please advise if you have a solution.
THANKS!

There is no application frame in CS3. CS4 is the first version to have an Application frame on the Mac. the majority of Mac users do not like the Application Frame as it allows us to see the other windows of the other apps we are working with and just click between them.
What most of us do is have a gray background an RGB gray of 192,192,192 is best. I have a variation on a solid gray background by turning one of the shoshy Apple backgrounds grayscale then returning to RGB and adjusting it as close to the 192,192,192 as passible.
the other thing you can do is press the F key once puts you in Maximise mode, twice puts you in Full screen mode, three times is Full screen mode with a black instead of gray, and four times back where you started.
If you want an Application Frame I suggest you upgrade to CS4.

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 in workspaces

Hi there. Is there anyway to hide all the desktop icons but from specific workspaces? I found an app called DesktopUtility which does the job but it hides them from all workspaces.

I have the same problem on 10.9.2.
Looks rather worse on my icon-strewn desktop!

Help needed to create desktop application background using javaFx.

Hi,
i need to create background for my desktop application in JavaFx. It have top side bottom menu bars to place icon buttons for my app. The whole scene need to resize. I had tried this using
JavaFx composer. But my issue is like in java swing i can not able to create different panels and set different styles. Please help me on this issue.
Thankyou.

Hi mate take a rectangle and fill it to scene width !
use fill gradient and bind it to your main scene.width
for example :
Rectangle {
fill: color.Blue
stroke: LinearGradient {
startX: 125.0, startY: 0.0, endX: 225.0, endY: 0.0
proportional: false
stops: [
Stop { offset: 0.0 color: Color.web("#1F6592") }
Stop { offset: 1.0 color: Color.web("#80CAFA") }
use appropriate start and offset then bind it to scene width and height.
width : bind scene.width;
height : bind scene.height ;

How to reverse hide desktop icons.scpt

this is a script i downloaded from some website i cannot find now, to hide the desktop icons... i did so successful when i clicked play.
now i kinda want it the old way where the desktop icons are displayed on the desktop! i remember reading that i can change some element of the below script to display the desktop icons again, but forgot what it is...
another one can help? please? thanks a lot..
try
set CurSet to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder CreateDesktop"
on error
set CurSet to "1"
end try
if CurSet is "1" then
set NewSet to false
else
set NewSet to true
end if
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool " & NewSet
tell application "Finder"
quit
try
activate
end try
end tell
i tried changing 1 to 0 and running the script but it didnt work.
hope i didnt damage my os x or sth....

Jeffrey,
The script worked as a toggle for me. When I ran it the first time my desktop icons hid; I ran it a second time and the icons were back. No need to change any values.
Try pasting the same script into your Script Editor and hit the Run button. Look for the icons to reappear. If you decide to save the script as an application you should, for obvious reasons, save it to somewhere other than your desktop. You can place it in your dock afterward and run it from there, e.g.
See if that works... Good luck!
Andrew99

Hide desktop icon and keep text

I would like for my desktop not to have icon, but still have the text for the shortcut. I know you can accomplish this by making the icon a transparent image but, it still has the highlighted box around the transparent image when you click it once. Is there a way to get around this?

I use Overflow which does that stated above but even better as it doesn't require opening and closing a seperate folder, or right-clicking, for your files.
The link for Overflow: http://www.stuntsoftware.com/Overflow/
I'm also trying out DockYard: http://www.belkadan.com/dockyard/
and a review: http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,1000000375,39309691s,00.htm
Now, anyone know how to remove/hide icon title text from the Dock?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1129410&tstart=0

Lion hides desktop icons

Sometimes, (I still can't understand the exact conditions, looks like completely random) Lion hides all my desktop icons and "deactivates" desktop (nothing happens when I'm trying to "select" - no selection rectangle is drawn).
Maybe it happens when I'm minimizing applications or when quitting ones, but it really makes me mad - I just realize that no icins are shown on the desktop at the moment.
Switching desktops restores the functionality and shows all the icons.
Any idea what happens and how to solve this?
P.S. And, a couple words to Apple - Snow Leo was a dream. Lion is some early-released glitchy crap that I every day think of removing and really asking for my money back.

In that case, there may be a problem with your Finder preferences or window settings.
Try removing these files, then restarting:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
~/Desktop/.DS_Store
Let me know if you're not sure how to do that.

Hide desktop in background?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for