How to hide desktop icons programmatically?

Question

How can I show/hide the desktop icons programmatically, using C#?

I\'m trying to create an alternative desktop, which uses widgets, and I need to hide the old icons.

Answer 1

You can do this in RegEdit HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced change HideIcons to 1

    static void HideIcons()
    {
        RegistryKey myKey = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced", true);
        if (myKey != null)
        {
            myKey.SetValue("HideIcons", 1);
            myKey.Close();
        }
    }

Use the Registry class as described here.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.win32.registry.aspx