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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
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.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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
On Sat, 19 Jul 2014 20:40:41 +0000, PerryCS wrote:
At this stage in the game the ENTIRE UI should be completely customizable. 1995 to Present and we still have a rigid UI that requires extensive programming to modify.
I agree to a great extent, but not quite as strongly as you say.
You have some of the BEST programmers in the world.
This isn't Microsoft you're addressing; this is a peer support forum.
We are all just users of this version of Windows here, helping each
other if and when we can. We are not Microsoft employees (not even
those of us with "Microsoft MVP" behind our names; that's an honorary
title for having provided consistently helpful advice) except for an
occasional Microsoft contractor or employee.
If you want to complain to Microsoft about something, please contact
them directly. Trying to do it here is just a waste of (figurative)
breath.
At this stage in the game the ENTIRE UI should be completely customizable. 1995 to Present and we still have a rigid UI that requires extensive programming to modify.
If I agreed any harder, I would injure myself.
Microsoft has known full-well for at least a couple of decades that people want UI customization. They have continually seen third-parties provide all sorts of customization capabilities s for every aspect of the UI, yet, they obstinately refuse to provide any such ability either built-in, or even as an API-supported framework for others to do it themselves, hence all the .dll hacks that are necessary, but absolutely should not be. Having to resort to hacking the OS to do something so common and so innocuous is ridiculous. Not only is it a lot more work, not only does it require constant attention to check and restore after updates, but it also opens the system up to new attack vectors unnecessarily.
I just cannot imagine why Microsoft refuses to support UI customization beyond what little wiggle-room they have allowed with a bit of color changing, wallpapers, or using Microsoft-provided themes. The only fathomable (attempt at an) excuse for continuing with this absurd close-source, proprietary UI-customization system they have stuck to, is that it would slightly complicate tech-support instructions when giving directions via plain-text. **◔_**◔
Right click on Start button and slect Properties, then click on the Task Bar Tab and then un-click "Use Aero Peek to preview the Desktop"
Did you bother to even skim the thread, or even just read the original question?
If you had, then you would know that the option you mentioned only disables Aero Peek which shows an overlay of the desktop when you hover over the button, it does not actually remove the button which is what this whole thread is about.
Right click on Start button and slect Properties, then click on the Task Bar Tab and then un-click "Use Aero Peek to preview the Desktop"
