Show Desktop Icon on the Quick Launch Toolbar

How to re-create or restore the Show Desktop icon on the Quick Launch toolbar?

We all know how easily icons can disappear, right? Click the mouse button by mistake while scrolling over the page not noticing we clicked it when on top of an icon, and the icon is suddenly gone.

The Show Desktop icon is not an ordinary program shortcut that comes as built into the Quick Launch bar.  If the icon is deleted, re-creating the icon is not obvious, but it is easy.

To manually re-create or restore the Show Desktop icon, execute the following steps:

Open your Notepad. You can do this by either going to your Accessories in your Start -> Programs menu, or by going to your Start menu, clicking Run, typing notepad, and then clicking OK.

In Notepad, type the following text on individual lines:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Now, save this file somewhere to your computer as ShowDesktop.scf.

Make sure Notepad has not appended the TXT to this file name. You have to select the Save as type: All files when saving the file in Notepad.

Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98
Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Username refers to the account name that should see this icon in the Quick Launch bar.

Use the mouse to drag the ShowDesktop.scf file to the Quick Launch folder.