Monday, August 26, 2013

Windows 8: Stupid PC Tricks - Show Desktop

Note: "Stupid PC Tricks" are a series of user tips that I think are interesting, but unfortunately they're not all that useful.
Since Windows XP, you could press the WinKey + D on the keyboard to show the desktop.  Before that you had a shortcut that used to come with Windows that you could launch with your mouse.

Below are instructions on how to recreate the shortcut icon.

Open NOTEPAD.EXE, and paste the following code into it.
[Shell]Command=2IconFile=explorer.exe,3[Taskbar]Command=ToggleDesktop
Press the Ctrl+S to bring up the save dialog.  Select where you want to save the file.
Give the file name of Show DESKTOP.SCF, change the Save as type drop-down menu to: All files (*.*)
Press the Save button

Double-click the icon to hide the desktop, double-click it again to show the desktop.

Note: The icons are still available on your system at: "%userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"

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