Hide All Windows 10 Desktop Icons the Easy Way
Assuming you’re using the default Windows 10 desktop icons:
1. Right-click on any empty space on your desktop.
2. In the menu that appears, hover your mouse over “View.”
3. In the sub-menu that appears, click on “Show desktop icons.”
That’s it! This will hide all your desktop icons. If you want to show them again, simply follow the same steps and click on “Show desktop icons” instead.
Table of Contents
How to make your Windows 10 desktop look clean and organized
Assuming you have a desktop with icons on it:
1. Right-click on an empty spot on your desktop.
2. In the menu that appears, hover your mouse over “View.”
3. In the submenu that appears, click “Hide desktop icons.”
4. All your desktop icons will disappear!
To make them reappear:
1. Right-click on an empty spot on your desktop.
2. In the menu that appears, hover your mouse over “View.”
3. In the submenu that appears, click “Show desktop icons.”
4. Your desktop icons will reappear.
How to keep your desktop icons hidden until you need them
We all know how cluttered our desktop can get after using our computer for a while. All of those shortcuts and files can make it hard to find what we’re looking for, and it can be downright frustrating. But there is a way to keep your desktop icons hidden until you need them, and it’s actually quite easy.
The first thing you need to do is open up the Registry Editor. You can do this by hitting the Start button and then typing in “regedit.” Once the Registry Editor is open, you’ll need to navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel
Once you’re in that key, you’ll need to create a new DWORD value. To do this, right-click in the right-hand pane and select “New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.” Name this new value “{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}.”
Now, all you need to do is restart your computer and your desktop icons will be hidden until you mouse over to that area of the screen. This is a great way to declutter your desktop and make it easier to find what you’re looking for.
How to make your Windows 10 desktop more efficient
Assuming you have a Windows 10 computer, there are a couple different ways you can go about “hiding” your desktop icons. The first way is to simply right-click on your desktop and select “View” and then uncheck “Show desktop icons”. This will cause all of your icons to disappear, but they’ll still be there if you need them. To get them back, just follow the same process and check the “Show desktop icons” box again.
The second way to hide your desktop icons is to use a little bit of code. Just open up Notepad and copy and paste the following code into it:
@echo off
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
start explorer.exe
exit
Save the file as “hide_desktop_icons.bat” (or whatever you want) and then double-click on it. This will kill the Explorer process, which is responsible for displaying your desktop icons, and then restart it. This will cause your icons to disappear, but they’ll come back as soon as you restart your computer.
Of course, if you want to get really fancy, you can combine these two methods by creating a batch file that will toggle your desktop icons on and off. Just create a new text file and copy and paste the following code into it:
@echo off
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
if exist hide_desktop_icons.txt (
del hide_desktop_icons.txt
start explorer.exe
) else (
echo. > hide_desktop_icons.txt
)
exit
Save the file as “toggle_desktop_icons.bat” and double-click on it. This will kill the Explorer process and then check to see if a file called “hide_desktop_icons.txt” exists in the same directory. If it does, it will delete the file and restart Explorer, which will cause your icons to reappear. If the file doesn’t exist, it will create the file and then exit, leaving your icons hidden. To get your icons back, just double-click on the batch file again.
So there you have it, a couple of different ways to hide your desktop icons in Windows 10. Give them a try and see which one works best for you.
How to customize your Windows 10 desktop to your liking
Windows 10 is a pretty customizable operating system. You can change the look and feel of your desktop to your liking. In this article, we’ll show you how to hide all your desktop icons in Windows 10, making for a clean and tidy desktop.
First, right-click on your desktop and select “Personalize.”
In the “Personalization” window, click on “Themes” in the left sidebar.
Under “Related Settings,” click on “Desktop icon settings.”
In the “Desktop Icon Settings” window, uncheck the boxes next to the icons you want to hide. For this example, we’ll hide the This PC, Recycle Bin, and Control Panel icons.
Click “Apply” and then “OK.”
Your desktop icons will now be hidden! If you ever want to show them again, simply follow the steps above and check the boxes next to the icons you want to show.
