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
    2013-03-07T05:25:44+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.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-01-29T03:40:45+00:00

    I agree.  I hate the thing as well.  I miss the old XP and Vista style toolbar at the bottom.  I could put shortcuts and show desktop if needed.  With Win 7 they cram it down your throat and to top it off, they give us useless stupid icons across the button that move around when you click on them (shortcuts stay in 1 place, pinning something to the taskbar works "ok" enough but I HATE that the "shortcut" turns into a window tab so to speak.

    Ugh...

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-10-18T19:57:53+00:00

    I personally love how it was on Windows XP or earlier versions of Windows.

    So im writing this for people like me.

    I like to have it next to my START button or somewhere pin on the Taskbar on Windows 7.

    Here is how to achieve that...found (here)

    To re-create the Show desktop icon yourself, follow these steps:

    1.       Click Start, click Run, type notepad in the Open box, and then click OK.

    2.       Carefully copy and then paste the following text into the Notepad window:

    [Shell] **** Command=2 **** IconFile=explorer.exe,3 **** [Taskbar] **** Command=ToggleDesktop

    3.       On the File menu, click Save As, and then save the file to your desktop as "Show desktop.scf". The Show desktop icon is created on your desktop.

    Now my tweak...hehehehe ;)

    4.       Move the Show desktop.scf in a safe location.. I put mine in the Program Files folder “C:\Program Files\ Show desktop.scf”

    5.       Click Start, click Run, type notepad in the Open box, and then click OK again.

    6.       Leave it BLANK...but this time save as .exe not .scf file.

    7.       On the File menu, click Save As, and then save the file to your desktop as "Show desktop.exe".

    8.       Now drag and drop the Show desktop.exeto the Taskbar.

    9.       Right Click on the Show desktop.exe that’s on the Taskbar,. Right Click on Show desktop and click Properties.

    10.     Replace Target with **"C:\Program Files\Show Desktop.scf"**dont forget the “quotes”

    11.     Restart your PC and here you go a fully working SHOW DESKTOP button.

    1.     Now if you don't like Aero Peek.
    2. ****Right-click on Taskbar and select "Properties". Now uncheck the option "Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop".
    3.     Click on Apply button and it'll disable Aero Peek feature.

    CHEERS...hope i was of any help.. ;)

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-09-30T08:36:54+00:00

    The show desktop button is in a stupid place plus it looks like **** in non-aero themes. It makes no sense to put it in the tray; it should be near the Start button if anywhere. Anyway, the door2windows.com solution does not work for Windows 7 pro 64 bit. It gets rid of the show desktop icon all right, but it also wipes out the entire tray area. The whole Windows 7 toolbar/tray is a terrible design. Even after hours of reconfiguring, researching registry hacks, and installing 3-rd party software it's only barely usable. But don't bother telling Micro$oft, because all they'll tell you is "make sure you have the most recent drivers installed" and "it's by design".

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