Windows 7: Remove Show Desktop Button

Anonymous
2009-11-24T19:11:46+00:00

Why does Microsoft insist on giving us useless features that we cant disable without going through x hours of troubleshooting and re-programming?  The current thing for me is the annoying Show Windows Desktop Button in Win 7 thats attached to the start bar and serves no practical function other than to look tacky. 

For those of you who don't know this already, the same function can be achieved by pressing the windows key+d. 

Personally, I find this feature to be inconvenient even for novice users due to its inconvenient location in the bottom right corner; essentially as far away from the start button as physically possible.

I'm a rather advanced user and I decided to switch back to Window$ from Ubuntu after 7 came out because of the performance improvement and support for adobe cs4.  (though thats another story entirely)

I suppose the question I have is where can this little 'feature' be found in the registry so I can remove it?  (or if there is an easier way to remove it i'd be interested in that as well, though Im nearly certain it doesn't exist)

Also as a side note to Microsoft:  Perhaps an update to make this icon movable and removable via gui would be nice, seeing as how im sure several other people do not like it and have less experience than I do in programming and customization.

Edit: Im not interested in 'disabling' the active feature of it, I want to remove it entirely.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2011-02-22T00:45:20+00:00

Hello,

Unfortunately, this is by design.  However, there are 3rd party applications that would definitely accomplish the task at hand for you.  I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you,

Aaron

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-06-14T18:25:14+00:00

    On Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:58:21 +0000, Manehalla wrote:

    I have seen Windows since Win 3.1; after a leap of Win 95 all I have seen is that the disk size of the OS has increased insanely with little or decrease in customer satisfaction.

    My opinion is very different, so I'll throw it in here. Three points:

    1. Yes, the disk space that Windows uses has increased, if you
      measure that disk space in bytes. But if you measure it in dollars
      (the number of dollars needed to buy the disk space Windows uses), it
      has gone down substantially. In my view, measuring it in dollars is
      the correct way to do it, since Microsoft has made better, more secure
      operating systems by taking advantage of improved hardware technology
      yielding lower disk prices and saving us disk dollars. We get more for
      less money, and that's good, not bad.
    2. Over the years, the rampage of malware (viruses, etc.) out there
      has dramatically increased. One of the things that has made Windows
      bigger in bytes is adding protection for much of that new malware.
      Even if you think newer versions of Windows are no better than Windows
      95, if you ran such an old version you would be unprotected against
      lots of malware.

    3.You may think there's been "little or decrease in customer
    satisfaction," but I don't agree. I don't think every change Microsoft
    has made has better than what came before, but with an exception or
    two, I think almost every version of Windows has been better than its
    predecessor. And I know many, many people (some technical, some
    ordinary users) who agree with me.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-29T14:15:19+00:00

    > One of the main reasons this is annoying for me is when I move to go 2 handed on the keyboard I tend to toss the mouse down in that corner out of reflex and then I can see what I'm typing.

    Yup; unfortunately  many devs tend to be ignorant (or even worse, indifferent or even hostile) to usability and accessibility. They don’t realize (or care) that people don’t always use computers in exactly the same way; some may use the keyboard more/exclusively, some may use a mouse more/exclusively, some may use touch or pen or other devices/methods, etc. They keep forgetting to take these things into consideration when designing a UI. The worst part is that companies like Microsoft actually have people whose sole job is to consider these things!

    Hey, at least Microsoft is still better than Google. The Google devs who work on the Chrome/Chromium project are the worst and so arrogant that they purposely ignore and close requests to consider how real users actually use it; they only consider how they themselves use it.

    > I'd say since this function is passive and doesn't allow anything other than show what the desktop looks like, it's pointless. You actually have to click in order to proceed to the desktop. If it actually switched to the desktop that would be something, but it doesn't. That's almost like hovering over Word icon and seeing the application before actually requesting it to launch.

    I agree. I don’t think I have ever hovered over it (on purpose) just to see the desktop; I only ever click it to show the desktop; just like the Show Desktop button on previous versions of Windows.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-28T20:49:20+00:00

    One of the main reasons this is annoying for me is when I move to go 2 handed on the keyboard I tend to toss the mouse down in that corner out of reflex and then I can see what I'm typing.

    I'd say since this function is passive and doesn't allow anything other than show what the desktop looks like, it's pointless. You actually have to click in order to proceed to the desktop. If it actually switched to the desktop that would be something, but it doesn't. That's almost like hovering over Word icon and seeing the application before actually requesting it to launch.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-03-09T02:35:36+00:00

    How simple.  Thank you.  I wish it would tone down the complainers like Jeff who, if they would spend the time looking a little further rather than going off the deep end with their frustration, would be a lot stressed out.

    Except that the post you are referring to resolves only one of the several issues caused by the inability to remove the button.

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