There are people who love the order of the desk and also the computer desktop. In fact, when you install several programs and when you create files, the Windows desktop becomes full of icons that make the screen confusing and cover the background image. There is a very small, simple and very useful program that allows you to hide icons on the desktop freeing up space and leaving only the background. By hiding the icons, the computer looks like new, with a clean background and only the Start button visible at the bottom left. Hiding icons and having an empty desktop can also be useful for privacy when using the PC in an environment frequented by other people such as an office or a university desk. In addition to the icons, in fact, you can also hide the taskbar, automatically, only when you don't need it.
AutoHidedesktopIcons is a very small, 20 Kbyte portable program (which does not require installation), which hides both the desktop icons and the taskbar, leaving only the Start button. After downloading it, you can extract the zip file and launch the AutoHideDesktopIcons.exe file.
The program settings window allows you to configure a timer within which to make icons disappear from the desktop .
By default, with the tool active, after 5 seconds the icons disappear and, if you also select the Hide Taskbar option, the taskbar at the bottom also disappears. The maximum time available for the timer is 100 seconds.
To make the icons on the desktop and the taskbar reappear, just click with the mouse anywhere on the screen or on the lower part (for the application bar). In the options you can choose whether to use the right button, the left button or the central mouse wheel to make all hidden icons reappear.
This function is very simple and also, for me, very useful to leave the computer in order, without showing anything that can be spied on the screen, nor what programs are open, nor which files and icons are on the desktop. If you like, always in the options window, you can choose whether to start AutoHidedesktopicons automatically with Windows and whether to start it minimized, that is without showing the start window. The execution of the hide all tool is visible from the icon near the clock and, by clicking on it, the program window opens.
To pause the application, check the Disable box. To end the program, on the other hand, press the Esc key from the main window. Autohide is a rather simple tool, perhaps too much, but also very useful.
Hiding the desktop icons can also be done by pressing the right button on the screen and lifting the selection under Show desktop icons from the View sub-menu. With the Windows tool, however, everything is automatic, both the disappearance and the reappearance of the icons.
If you want something more, I recommend using Stardock Fences which serves to better organize the icons on the desktop, organizing them in clusters, grouped as you want and ordered.
Alternatively, look at how to have a clean desktop with no icons and custom menu bars .
