Add a "Show Desktop" Shortcut on Windows XP

By default, you should have a shortcut icon on the "Quick Launch" toolbar (the toolbar that normally sits next to the Start button) to toggle your Windows desktop...

But what if, for some reasons, this little icon is not there, missing from your Quick Launch toolbar. Well, you can always toggle to "show the desktop" or "show the active windows" by using the shortcut key "Windows-d".
However, if you really want to get that icon back, you can still create a new copy of it and put it back to your Quick Launch toolbar by following the instructions below.






First, create a text file on your desktop (right-click anywhere on your desktop and select "New" > "Text Document").


Double-click on this new file to edit it, then copy and paste the following text into the file:


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



Save the file, then rename it to "Show desktop.scf".


- Option 1. (Simple)At this point, you can click and drag this file to the Quick Launch toolbar. As you drop the file to the Quick Launch toorbar, a new shortcut icon will be created on the toolbar.
The disadvantage: If you happen to delete the file "Show desktop.scf" from your desktop, the shortcut icon at the Quick Launch toolbar will no longer work.

- Option 2. (Advanced)To get away from the problem mentioned on Option 1, simply move (or copy) the file ("Show desktop.scf") to the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\{user-name}\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
(replace "{user-name}" with your user name.)