How to "Show Desktop" in Ubuntu Linux

Like Windows, Ubuntu (and pretty much every other Linux) has a "Show Desktop" icon on it's toolbar that minimizes all the running applications to the taskbar allowing full view of the desktop.

I discovered it last week by accident whilst I was attempting to pull off a difficult triple-press-perfect-timing-required IDE 'shortcut' ;)

The keyboard shortcut for "Show Desktop" is:

Ctrl-Alt-D

I also found a great linux desktop hotkeys article written by the Calgary Linux Users Group.

Technorati Tags: Show Desktop, Ubuntu, Linux, CLUG, Andrew Beacock

How to restore Windows XP's "Show Desktop" icon

I'm not sure of the exact details but it seems that on some installations of XP the "show desktop" icon is missing from the quick launch toolbar (next to the Start button). Most other applications are also available in the Start menus so it's pretty easy to restore them but not the Show Desktop icon.

The Techie Corner blog had the answer I was looking for - two different ways to restore the Show Desktop icon.

I preferred the second technique - throw the following command into Start ->Run:

regsvr32 /n /i:U shell32.dll

Your show desktop icon should have instantly appeared in the quick launch toolbar!

Technorati Tags: Show Desktop, Quick Launch, Windows XP, TechieCorner, Andrew Beacock