Remove recycle bin from desktop - clean desktop without icons

I am a big fan of a clean desktop. My desktop is a plain blue and I love it like that. Sometimes, I place a background image but that's only when I have a few minutes to kill in front of the system - the background image is removed when I get back to "serious work". On Windows XP, the only icon I had was the recycle bin. However, Windows Vista lets me remove the recycle bin too; and there are many ways to go about it. Looking for a cleaner desktop or simply want to remove all icons that crowd on that lovely background image, read on.

FYI, a cleaner desktop gets more appreciative glances than one with an attractive background image or even one that has lots of things happening on it (like tons of widgets)... and I say this from experience!

Hiding all the icons removes the recycle bin

The quickest way to hide all icons including the recycle bin from the Vista desktop is to right-click on an empty area and uncheck "Show Desktop Icons". You can select the same option again to bring all the icons and shortcuts back.

Deleting the recycle bin altogether

The other option to remove the recycle bin from the desktop is to delete it altogether - don't worry you always restore the deleted recycle bin if you want it at a later stage. Right-click on the recycle bin icon and select the "Delete" option - check image on the left. To get it back, please refer how to restore a deleted recycle bin to the desktop.

Choosing which icons you want to the desktop

Windows Vista also allows you to choose which icons you want to have on the desktop. Right-click on an empty area and select "Personalize". You'll find yourself in the Control Panel. Click on the "Change desktop icons" link on the left and uncheck all the icons - refer the image below. To confirm the changes remember to click on the "Apply" button followed by the "OK".

Decreasing the icons size

OK, so this will not remove the icons from the desktop but make them quite undetectable. If you want to keep some icons on the desktop but don't want them spoiling the background image, you can decrease their size to a minimum - refer how to change and decrease desktop icon size. Don't want the icons name to appear? Rename them with blank spaces! Check the really tiny recycle bin icon I have - note, there is no name too!

A final note: When you delete a file, it is not immediately deleted but rather moved to the recycle bin. This throws a problem if you have hidden or removed the recycle bin - how to you empty it to recover useful hard disk space. You can either do this from time to time or make the files skip the recycle bin and get deleted immediately. For the latter option, follow the steps - Right-click on the recycle bin icon, select "Properties" and select the radio button in front of "Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted".