PCA Forums

Is it possible to get rid of the "My Computer" icon in Win2k? I know you can in 98 but haven't been able to find this in Win2k, if it's even possible.

I'm going for a new look and am trying to make my desktop as clean looking as possible. I have no icons now except for the "my computer" icon. TweakUI got rid of the rest and for my programs I just have a hidden quicklaunch bar.

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<a href="http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfil ... esktop.jpg" target="_NEW">without toolbars</a> || <a href="http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfil ... sktop2.jpg" target="_NEW">with toolbars</a>

The best way I found is to enable active desktop and then hide icons becomes an option under customize when you right click on the desktop.

There is also a program to do this. http://download.com.com/3000-2195-16170 ... egacy=cnet

No customize desktop items under display properties?

I don't remember when running 2000, but that's how I can do it on XP.

The best way I found is to enable active desktop and then hide icons becomes an option under customize when you right click on the desktop.

Ughhh..... Active Desktop is a MAJOR performance hog. Not one of Microsoft's greatest ideas...

"Ughhh..... Active Desktop is a MAJOR performance hog. Not one of Microsoft's greatest ideas..."

I've seen that mentioned MANY times over the years but in my experience with using it, other that added time to load it at start-up I'm not having obvious performance problems using it on any PC here.
Can you explain why many people like yourself are still so "anti active desktop" ?

I do remember the "old days" (like 6 yrs ago) when the P166 was king, running Win95 and it'd bog down or malfunction just looking at the wrong way BUT from what I can see, todays more powerfull systems can seemingly use it w/o noticeable problems.
I'm still not really sure what "advantages" (if any?) it enables but it's just that some of my choices for a desktop background screen often require that it be enabled to work. I don't notice any of my PCs slow down functionally whether I have it enabled or dissabled.

.....just curious as to opinions or otherwise on this topic? Sorry if I'm sidetracking the thread any here.

Active desktop literally runs IE on your desktop.

Even on a fast system I can immediately tell that Active Desktop (AD) is enabled just by how slowly menus ands windows open and close, not to mention an annoying flash during bootup when it's enabled.

I'm against it because it's using a hell of a lot of system resources and CPU cycles for NOTHING. 99% of the time it's only enabled to allow you to have JPG wallpapers on your desktop. Heck it's better just to convert the JPG to a BMP and disable it.

The original promise of AD was to have interactive wallpapers with stock quotes, news, and advertising (oh yeah just what I need - advertising on my desktop) .

The sad fact of the matter is that it's a performance and resource hog, and it used to be prone to crashing a lot. Microsoft pretty much abandoned it, and except for some few JPG and interactive wallpapers (wallpapers with HTML links on them) it's not really used at all.

I'd convert the jpg IF only I knew it's location but I'm presently unable to locate it. Any ideas where to search? A file search by name brings up a zillion items.

There's only two places that Windows stores wallpaper images.

Either it's in your \Windows folder or (if you're running WinME/2K/XP) it's in the \My Pictures folder in your My Documents folder.

I don't even know how to enable active desktop in 2k? In 98 isn't it just under the "effects" tab in Display Properties? It ain't there in 2k unless it's a feature I didn't install.

Just r.click on the desktop and it's there just like in the other OSs.


OK, I found it in 'My pictures', used MS Picture It to change it to BMP, set that as desktop background and disabled 'Active Desktop'. I've never noticed 'active desktop' giving me ANY advantages or options vs being w/o it but if it uses added resources with no noticable gain (advantages), why use it?
Thanks for the info on this topic FP.

<img src=http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfil ... op_nat.jpg>

Again, I don't see it.... It ain't that big of a deal because I've gotten used to it now. Just thought the desktop would look a tad nicer without it

Weird. All my PCs here start with Active desktop as the first line but they're all upgraded from Win98 (not fresh install) so maybe that's why?

Clean Win2000 installation here, my r-click menu on desktop starts with ACTIVE DESKTOP ... in display properties it is under the WEB tab.
Not to mention that mine is disabled, wallpapers I like are converted into BMPs and saved in the WINNT folder

I did a clean Install as well and then upgraded to SP2. I also have no "Web" tab under display properties. I know in Win98 there is a webtab so you can enable it, thats why I was confused where it was in 2k. I thought they might have moved it or something.

Just out of curiosity Doc, why would you convert it to a bitmap? Those are larger than jpeg files and thus would take up more video memory wouldn't they?

BMP's are more of a Windows STANDARD extension. That's why Paint always saves in BMP (unless you change it). you are probably correct HT, but Windows prefer BMP's over any other format..

BTW: I have active desktop disabled in 98SE, and I have a jpg showing..