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"Show Desktop" icon vanished
On my laptop, with XP pro sp3, somehow the "Show Desktop" icon vanished
on the bottom taskbar. I suppose I somehow drug it off the taskbar??? who knows.... Anyhow, I want to put it back. I use it often when I have a bunch of browser pages and other stuff loaded, and want to check my download folder or something like that. How to put the icon back is a real puzzle.... It's probably real simple, but I sure cant figure out how.... |
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"Show Desktop" icon vanished
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"Show Desktop" icon vanished
On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 20:27:10 +0000, Ian Jackson
wrote: In message , writes On my laptop, with XP pro sp3, somehow the "Show Desktop" icon vanished on the bottom taskbar. I suppose I somehow drug it off the taskbar??? who knows.... Anyhow, I want to put it back. I use it often when I have a bunch of browser pages and other stuff loaded, and want to check my download folder or something like that. How to put the icon back is a real puzzle.... It's probably real simple, but I sure cant figure out how.... After installing XP, one of the first things I do is to remove the "Show Desktop" icon. You don't need it, and it only takes up space. Thats your preference..... I want it, and use it often. |
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"Show Desktop" icon vanished
On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 23:10:33 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote: In message , writes: On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 20:27:10 +0000, Ian Jackson wrote: In message , writes On my laptop, with XP pro sp3, somehow the "Show Desktop" icon vanished on the bottom taskbar. I suppose I somehow drug it off the taskbar??? who knows.... Anyhow, I want to put it back. I use it often when I have a bunch of browser pages and other stuff loaded, and want to check my download folder or something like that. How to put the icon back is a real puzzle.... It's probably real simple, but I sure cant figure out how.... After installing XP, one of the first things I do is to remove the "Show Desktop" icon. You don't need it, and it only takes up space. Thats your preference..... I want it, and use it often. Have you tried Win(dows key)+D? (Win+M works as well, but Win+D is reversible.) (I think they were originally Desktop and Minimise.) Those keys do work... I never knew about them. However I'd still like to get my icon back. Old habits are hard to break.... I have that icon in Win98, and have it on my XP desktop computer, but someone stole it on my XP laptop.... (Probably a Halloween ghost that didnt leave when that holiday was over). I probably go to the desktop at least once every half hour, because I have all my programs on my desktop. (I dont use the clunky START button). Having to minimize 5 windows to get there is a major pain. BUt at least now i know I can use Win+D or Win+M. (both work). Thanks |
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"Show Desktop" icon vanished
On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 19:10:50 -0500, Ben Myers
wrote: On 11/28/2017 1:41 PM, wrote: On my laptop, with XP pro sp3, somehow the "Show Desktop" icon vanished on the bottom taskbar. I suppose I somehow drug it off the taskbar??? who knows.... Anyhow, I want to put it back. I use it often when I have a bunch of browser pages and other stuff loaded, and want to check my download folder or something like that. How to put the icon back is a real puzzle.... It's probably real simple, but I sure cant figure out how.... Open Notepad, copy and paste the following to it and save it as "C:\Document and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\" as "Show Desktop". Be sure to replace "username" with your real username. [Shell] Command=2 IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop You were 99% on the money with this. I did as you said, and it created an icon on the taskbar. But it was a ..txt file (Notepad saves everything as .TXT). I removed the .TXT extension, using RENAME. It then appeared and opened something with a list to select stuff. After thinking about it for awhile, I went to the desktop icon on my Win98 computer, and right click selected it and did "properties" on it. I found a similar path to it (In Win98, the application data folder is in the WINDOWS folder. The file in Win98 is identical to what you posted, and the same filename but the extension is .SCF. Actual name is --- Show Desktop.scf As soon as I changed the filename to include the .SCF, it works fine. The funny thing, is that the .scf dont show up in that "quick launch folder". Yet that extension is required to make it work. -- An extra note about this. That "Quick Launch" folder contains an icon for Firefox, and one for Internet Explorer. Both of those are just plain common Shortcut files. (in both XP and Win98). Just for the heck of it, I created a shortcut for Notepad. Put it into that "Quick Launch" folder, and now there's a Notepad icon on the taskbar. (I'm going to keep that there as well, I like having easy access to Notepad, since I often copy notes from webpages as text). I learned something from this..... The funny part, is that all the other icons in the "Quick Launch" folder, in both XP and Win98, are just common shortcuts, but that Desktop icon is a .SCF file.... I googled .SCF and found this: http://filext.com/file-extension/SCF # Windows Explorer Command (Shell Command File) by Microsoft CorporationThese files are executed by SHELL32.DLL and the file extension is one of the special ones that remain hidden even if you instruct Windows to show file extensions. One example in Windows XP is the "Show Desktop.scf" file that is activated by the Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch area next to the Start button. The identifying characters used for this association are - Hex: 5B 53 68 65 6C 6C 5D 0D 0A , ASCII: [Shell]Program ID: SHCmdFile ---- I also learned that the taskbar operates exactly the same in Win98 and XP. I could have just copied this file from my Win98 machine or another XP machine, but I did not have a clue where to look.... I would have never figured this out without help.... This is a one of a kind special file type it appears... Thanks ! |
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"Show Desktop" icon vanished
In message , Ben Myers
writes On 11/28/2017 1:41 PM, wrote: On my laptop, with XP pro sp3, somehow the "Show Desktop" icon vanished on the bottom taskbar. I suppose I somehow drug it off the taskbar??? who knows.... Anyhow, I want to put it back. I use it often when I have a bunch of browser pages and other stuff loaded, and want to check my download folder or something like that. How to put the icon back is a real puzzle.... It's probably real simple, but I sure cant figure out how.... Open Notepad, copy and paste the following to it and save it as "C:\Document and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\" as "Show Desktop". Be sure to replace "username" with your real username. [Shell] Command=2 IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop Indeed. A Google on 'xp show desktop icon' brings up lots of hits on restoring it. http://bit.ly/2k70DeN Bit as the desktop can be revealed with two keystrokes or two mouse clicks, is it worth the effort? -- Ian |
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