I prefer an explorer window to the desktop for displaying my 'icons'. I like my wallpaper too much to cover them in ugliness. >.<

cJw

This is one of my favorites! I mostly use it to blend the icon text background into the background image.

chrissv

dman: that doesn't work very well for me, so Il be trying this app out.

as for saving icon positions, ultramon does that across my multiple screens :)

unruled

can't you just right click on the desktop and click on the "show icons" menu to hide icons?

dman0586

"Iconoid can save your icons' positions for easy restoration."

Nice! Every time CoD4 crashes on me, my icons are all scrambled around the desktop like pigeon droppings. I had been using PowerStrip, until it stopped working with the 8800 Series cards.

FubarGuy

I have to go along with the no-icons-at-all approach. Rocketdock and Vista start menu search get me to all my apps and files quickly, and having a clean desktop is just so much more, well, clean.

allinthefamily

They definitely could have used this in [www.thewebsiteisdown.com]

PatrickTulskie

Icons? I try to keep icons off my desktop...

pezdaddy

But does it have an "arrange by penis" function?

jrizzo

@allinthefamily:
second that, rocketdock ftw!

tom

@jrizzo: Uh. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?

jaxun

I have been using it for about a month, and it is good in terms of easy customization and easy to learn interface.

Public Relations

Desktop icons?

strabes

Just another voice in favor of Rocketdock. It saves me major screen-estate.

SkinnerBox

I've been using this program for over a year.
It works very well. Great for keeping your icons organized.

Saitek009

What's with the windows 98 style screenshot?

ai.scorp

@ai.scorp: Because the program really is that old. It's a minor miracle that the developer has maintained it to work on XP or Vista.

To give you an idea, my other two favorite toy programs on that Win98 SE box were Firebird and the Proxomitron.

Firebird became my default browser after it reached version 0.8 and was renamed Mozilla Firefox. It has done rather well for itself since then.

The Proxomitron fared rather worse. It was a nifty thing, a lightweight local http proxy server with the ability to do pattern matching and filtering on the incoming html. Handy for removing banner ads and malicious javascript, among other things. Adblock and NoScript replicate its most frequently used features.

toaste

@toaste:
ah, I see, thanks.

ai.scorp

I think this program is more for windows 2k or ME or something. In XP its not all that great.

unruled

WinTidy is still the one I use; being able to use tiny icons and different layouts per resolution is ideal for my laptop.

mattc

I've been using iconoid for several years now, I'm on XP and used it back to Win98. I maintain most-used apps on my desktop, which I show/hide via Winkey+D toggling.

I have my desktop littered with icons, but in a meaningful manner - Most used closest to the start menu, branching out to least used (But still fairly commonly accessed). I've got my start menu showing 11 apps in the "most used list", with 2 apps being stickied (A shortcut to a "Cut and Paste" file for quick notes, and Editpad below that). Beyond that, my start menu is organized by function - Dev, AV, Net, System, Office, CD-DVD, Games, Accessories (Tweaked and organized to remove all the chaff).

As a background: I'm in IT, I do web / DB / macro development. I use a LOT of apps, and don't have the patience to go navigating through my start menu every time I want to open SQLYog / Topstyle / VNC Server / ACDSee / Photoshop / whatever... When I connect at the office, I use a second monitor (Mangles icon positions). I do NOT look at my desktop - the space is to use, not look at a black background. I don't run extra software if I don't have to, I'd rather keep my system resources free.

When my icons go all out of whack, I flip open Iconoid, hit restore positions, and I'm free to go about my business. No more hunting for where the app went to, or reorganizing the desktop! Commercial voiceover: Iconoid - the application for people who obsess!

Freezen

Iconoid is great. There are a number of other similar programs, all free, that also are great. I reviewed and recommended Icon Restore, Desktop Icon Save & Restore, Iconoid, and RocketDock (which I didn't keep) in post #35 of my utilities blog. I hope this is helpful.

JonathansToolBarAndGrill

this seems a little unnecessary. especially for any version of windows after 2000. for the CPU usage, ill just stick to explorer.

techhead89

I too keep as few icons on my desktop...

ospreyguy

I got rid of all my desktop icons a long time ago in favor of Launchy. It's faster, more convenient, and reduces clutter.

vb2nc