Changing the Default Desktop Icons
Windows, by default, displays only the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop. You can, if you desire, instruct Windows to display a number of other icons as well. Follow these steps if you are using a Windows 10 system:
- Click the Start button (the Windows icon) and then select Settings icon (looks like a small gear). Windows displays the Windows Settings screen.
- Choose Personalize. Windows displays the Personalization window.
- Click the Themes link from the list on the left side of the window. Windows displays the Themes window.
- Scroll down to the Related Settings group and click on the Desktop Icon Settings link. Windows displays the Desktop Icon Settings dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Desktop Icon Settings dialog box.
- At the top of the dialog box, make sure a check mark appears beside each icon you want displayed on your desktop.
- Click OK.
If you are using a Windows 7 or Windows 8 system, follow these steps:
- Right-click at some empty point on your desktop. Windows displays a Context menu.
- Choose Personalize from the Context menu. Windows displays the Personalize dialog box.
- Click the Change Desktop Icons link, near the upper-left of the dialog box. Windows displays the Desktop Icon Settings dialog box.
- At the top of the dialog box, make sure a check mark appears beside each icon you want displayed on your desktop.
- Click OK.
The icons you selected should now be visible on the screen, along with all the others you have.
Author Bio
Allen Wyatt
With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...
Adding a Statement Showing an Automatic Row Count
If you want to add a dynamic statement to a worksheet that indicates how many rows are in a data table, you might be at a ...
Discover More
Plain Text Pasting as the Default
Pasting 'plain text" into a document is one of the most common ways of pasting information. Wouldn't it be great if this ...
Discover More
Copying a File in VBA
Need to have your macro copy a file from one place to another? It's easy to do using the FileCopy command, described in ...
Discover More
Performing a Factory Reset
Executing a factory reset is the final option if your computer is not working correctly. This tip shows you how to reset ...
Discover More
Creating a Selection Set
You may often need to work with many files at the same time. For example, you may wish to copy or delete a set of files. ...
Discover More
Changing the Desktop Background
You can change the image that is displayed for your desktop background to a more aesthetically pleasing picture. There ...
Discover More
Comments