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General discussion

Desktop icons...

Dec 8, 2003 1:19PM PST

My wife just got a new computer with Win XP. Somehow, she got her Desktop icon into a toolbar that rests next to the system tray and is named Desktop. Clicking on this icon opens up a window with all programs and icons that normally would be on the Desktop. However, her Desktop is totally empty. If I turn off the Desktop toolbar, her Desktop remains completely empty. So the question is "How do we get the icons to appear on the Desktop rather than be buried down on the taskbar?"

My laptop is running Win ME and I also have the option of a Desktop toolbar, but all my icons also appear on the Desktop.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Desktop icons...
Dec 8, 2003 2:26PM PST

Right click in a blank area next to the toolbar you
are talking about.
A menu will appear, hover over "toolbars",
uncheck the Desktop one and it will go away.

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Re:Desktop icons...
Dec 8, 2003 7:11PM PST

After you turn off the Desktop toolbar, did you then right click the desktop, hover mouse over Arrange icons by, and put a checkmark next to Show desktop icons?

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Re:Re:Desktop icons...
Dec 9, 2003 1:17AM PST

Thanks for the input on this problem. The option for turning the desktop icons on or off via the "arrange icons" menu must be new to Win XP. It's certainly not an option under Win ME. As a note to the previous answer to this problem, it's not necessary to turn off the desktop toolbar as the actual ability to display desktop icons works with the toolbar on or off.