Tim's Tech Tips

Question:

"Tim, 


I have a quick question for you. I am running XP and I accidentally deleted my "Show Desktop" shortcut that is normally in my quick launch toolbar. I use this icon very frequently, and for the life of me, I can't figure out how to get it back. I even asked Google, and found nothing. Can you help?"

An alternate form of this question which I got a couple of weeks ago is:

"I have Windows 7, and I don't like having the "Show Desktop" button be all the way over there on the right, and so small. How can I make a Show Desktop link, like I had in XP?"

Answer:

Anon,

Thank you for contacting me with your question. To create a new "Show Desktop" shortcut, we have to do a little text-editor magic. I was able to find the proper script through Rev.3.
Open up Notepad (start->RUN->"notepad"[enter]) and copy and paste the following:

Click to see script:

Go to File->Save As...
Type in: "Show Desktop.scf" (no quotations)
From the drop-down below the name, select "all files".
Save the file to your desktop, or wherever you'd like to have it.

This is your new "Show Desktop" icon. Have fun!

Update on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 12:24PM by Tim

Due to the number of times I've seen this issue, I have created a tool to address this. You can find this, and other tools on the Downloads page (link in the side-bar), or you can download the file directly from this link. Please make sure you right-click the link, and choose to save the file. This will act as your "Show Desktop" button. 

As with all tools on Tim's Tech Tips, you use this at your own risk. It has been tested on Windows XP, Vista, and 7.