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Removing Standard Icons from the Desktop

Windows 95 has a number of standard icons, such as My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and Recycle Bin that can not be moved off the desktop and that cannot be deleted without destroying the access to the feature or the function they represent.

Tweak can remove these standard icons from your desktop, except the My Computer. Start the Tweak applet in the Control Panel and select its Desktop tab. All the standard icons can be marked for display. Tweak also allows the standard icons to be converted to file based shortcuts, which then can be placed in any desktop.

Figure 22. Displaying Common Desktop Icons with Tweak

However, the name of the standard icons can be changed to more accurately reflect your environment. For instance, My Computer can be replaced by the name of your computer and Network Neighborhood can be replaced by the name of the work group or domain. To change the name of these icons, press and hold down the mouse cursor on the name until this name is shown in edit mode. Make your changes and press Enter to save this name.

The names are stored in the Registry with the OLE control ID and can be changed by editing the Registry directly. Editing the Registry should be done only by experienced users and with extreme care and the Registry should always be exported or backed up before any changes are made.

1. Start the REGEDIT.EXE program.

2. Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID

3. You will see a list of control IDs for various registered controls. Find the Key with the current name of the standard icon you want to rename. Double click the key to open the Edit String dialog box and to edit its value.


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