Add/Remove Windows System Shortcuts from your Desktop

You know those Icons that you can faithfully rely on to allways appear on the desktop: Recycle Bin, My Computer, etc? Did you know that you can pick and choose which of those icons show up on your desktop? I'm going to show you how. (Directions are for Windows 7 users. They may or may not work on other Windows versions.)

First, right-click an empty space of the desktop, then click Personalize.

The Personalization Menu will then appear.  Next, click "Change desktop icons" in the left margin.

 

This will bring up the Desktop Icon Settings window.

 

From here, you can choose whether to display Computer, your profile folder (contains Documents and Downloads), Network, and the Recycle Bin. Additionally, you can change the picture for each of the shortcuts, but, personally, I wouldn't go there. Don't want to make it MORE confusing now.

So there you have it; how to add and remove Windows system shortcuts from your desktop.