I have my Desktop set this way in XP Home
Don't know about other XP variations


Rt. click your taskbar.
Hover over "toolbars."
Choose "new toolbar.

In the "New Toolbar dialog box left click "Desktop," to highlight.
Choose "Make New Folder" button at lower left.
OK

You now have a "New Folder" on you desktop. BUT.
This is a Toolbar Folder!
Drag the folder to any open margin of your screen(left,right,or top) and drop it there.
You now have a new toolbar!

Go to the little bumpy line at the top of the new toolbar and Rt. click.
Choose "Always on top."
Do it again and choose "Auto-hide."
Now the toolbar will pop out when you bump that Desktop margin with your cursor.
Other Rt. click context choices are "Show text" (gives title of icons)
and "Show title." (Displays name of toolbar) " View" offers large or small icons.

But wait! The "New Folder" is still on the Desktop. Rename it as you wish, but leave it there.
Any shortcut icon you drag and drop into that folder appears in your new toolbar
AND disappears from your Desktop!

Shortcuts in the toolbar are one-click launch shortcuts, just like "Quick Launch."
All normal Rt. click shortcut icon context functions are available inside the toolbar.
Drag and drop inside the toolbar to arrange icons.

If you move the toolbar folder off the Desktop, you will lose all your icons.
Ditto if you put it in a containing folder. Just leave it there.

YES! You can do the same for the other empty margins of your Desktop and have four
Quick Launch toolbars that autohide, but are always on top even when you have the screen
full of something else. (I leave the Taskbar up and autohide the other three, but that's up to you.
Now when you get a new shortcut on your Desktop you can just drop it in whichever toobar you want.

To customize the covers of your three remaining desktop items
(I added a fourth-work folder-for balance)
Rt. click,choose "Properties">Customize>Change Icon.
Here you can select one of Windows' lovely preinstalled icons,
or "Browse" your computer for your own images. Photos work.

You now have a Desktop with only three or four customized icons and
nothing else but your beautiful wallpaper AND all your regularly used
Shortcuts are always avaliable in one click.


Merry Christmas to all.
1101doc

Hmmm....I just might have to give this a try! Nice post too! Love the energy!

Nice tip, 1101doc. Merry Christmas to you too.

I was going to make a new post yesterday but when I saw yours, decided to add my ideas here.

I don't like any icons cluttering my desktop. It is very easy to clear these but still have them all handy by:
Right clicking on an empty part of the desktop>go to Arrange Icons By> and untick Show Desktop Icons. The desktop will now be pristine.
Go down to the Taskbar>right click on an empty portion>go to Toolbars>place a tick against Desktop, and you are done. You will now have little double arrows which will popup all your desktop items when required.

There you are folks - two options for your desktop.

Cheers

Nice one! Although, at the risk of embarassing myself (ya, like I haven't done that before!), I must say the the "little double arrows" will appear on the right side of the taskbar, just to the left of the systray(where the clock is)....that only took me a minute (or three) to find, as I was looking for an icon in the quick launch area..... Oops, my fault!

Thank you very much for this tip. In my opinion it's one of the most useful tips I've seen in a very long time. In the past I messed around with replacing the explorer shell to receive added functionality similar to this when all along I could have followed your simple tips. Once again thank you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.

just found this very useful tip , thank you .

Another way to pretty much eliminate your desktop: http://www.candylabs.com/approcket/
The free version is fine, and as long as you hide the main gui, and make a custom search for programs in C:\program files\, you dont even need your start menu! Make sure not to delete folders on your desktop though, that would be bad

Great tip. Works like a charm, and really cleans things up.

Thx

Good work guys. Members seem to be really happy including me .

This is fabulous. I may have no idea how to use my computer, but it sure looks good.... thanks.

Great Tip mate...

Thanks, Really cleared up my clustered desktop

Wish i could think of a good tip for everyone

Thanks for this tip. It is just the best idea.
I was running 2 dock programs (Rocketdock and Objectdock) so I could keep my shortcut icons off the desktop but this is a much better solution.

Good work!

Great tip!

All Right !! I like foolin' around so this should keep me entertained for quite some time. Probably end up in the HJT forum looking for someone to sort me out, but I'm gonna give it a go too.

That is sooo cool! Thanks!
Best to all,
Betrock

Awesome tip! I'll have to experiment with this. I'm forever using the shortcut "windows button +M" to minimize all open windows, so I can get to the shortcuts on my desktop. I'm a keyboard person anyway, so that works well. BUT this idea will be jim-dandy-handy!.

And since one good tip deserves another, let me offer this little bit of advice in return:

"Life is uncertain...eat dessert first!"

cool tip,

is there a way to get the toolbar to come up in a different colour instead of just the normal white?

The only way I know of is to change the color of the background of your folders. The toolbars present in the default color.

One way to get different effects, is to install a theme.

Check out this: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic94039.html

Cheers

Agreed... I just made all my desktop icons the small ones in this folder, gave them a short name, and now my entire desktop loaded takes up 1/8 of its past self and I can reach it anywhere (does it work in fullscreen games?)

Ryan 3000

Try pressing the Windows Icon button at any time to access your taskbar.

Cheers

Great tip but I have a small issue with it where the 2 small bars at the edges of my screen are different widths. For more information please see here.

Help greatly apreciated.

cool

A similar tip is getting access to your various drives through a toolbar. You can do this simply by dragging the "My Computer" icon to the very edge of the screen; a new toolbar will automatically be created (this holds true for any folder, just drag it to the edge!):


Click to Enlarge

Andrew, the picture doesn't work.

If you could post it again that would be helpful.

-Steve

It works just fine for me...
http://www.hotmac.biz/desktoplarge.JPG

Hmmm.
Same here. Have tried a few times but get the home page of directnicparking.com.

It still does not work. I get a forbidden message.

-Steve

Amazing Andrew,
When I click your link, it goes to a blank page, then redirects to http://meanwhile.com/?domain=directnicparking.com&

.
.

Bloody goodfornothing webhost...

Always knew this was possible but never tried it until I thought about how it would work. Thanks guys, I did this for Vista and not life is good. This could go over well at work too.

Amazing!! I love it! I may be easily entertained but I'm having fun with this. I don't mind looking at my heap of junk laptop anymore now that I don't have literally 47 icons floating around anymore. Kudos!

What a GREAT DIY TIPS! Thanks for sharing 1101doc!

Fantastic Tip matie.

Cheers

I was just thinking the same thing

Great tip, thanks!

I've done this with all my computers. This is my Vista Ultimate desktop



Inside that one little (folder) icon on my desk, are many more folders. Each folder is customized and categorized as to how I use it.
example:


I have no clutter on my computer desktop ... it's all hidden inside!

Really could try that, thanks!

I love that rowal5555

Now if I could just figure out the 1st tip

ut oh
It disappeared when I changed my background pic
How could that happen? Any idea how I can locate it again
No icons on desktop or the new spot

*edited for typo

Hey Jacee, off the topic but just wondering where did you get your Desktop Wallpaper from and any other like that?

This works great if you want to add little shortcuts to ShutDown, Hibernate etc right next to your system tray! I can just press the little Shut Down Button and my PC shuts down! This works good with Hibernating too!

Here is as Screenshot:



David