We are in process of being totally locked down by our I.T. Department
as a corporate mandate. Part of this lock down includes the inability
to change (or even have) a desktop wallpaper, and the inability to add
or remove desktop icons (as well as not having admin rights but that's
not part of this question). Being innovatove mechanical engineers we
are looking at ways to avoid the generics we're about to receive.

We do have the rights to create folders locally and we have found ways
to create background in folders. We can make these folder backgrounds
anything we want, and we can add icons for our local applications into
this folder. We can also maximize this folder so it ends up being a
sort of desktop wallpaper and desktop icons without really being
desktop stuff.

Our question is to find out with Windows XP if there is any way to
display a folder maximized and not have the folder list or File and
Folder Tasks menu at the left hand side of the window and can you get
rid of the menu bar and buttons from the top??? Basically we are
trying to find a way to maximize a folder and not have much of
anything 'displayed' except the folder background and the icons (or
contents) of the folder. If it involves installing app's of any kind,
as stated before, we won't have admin rights so that is out.

Any hints or tricks before we end up in our bland generic world???
Thanks!

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
infiniteMPG <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> We are in process of being totally locked down by our I.T.
> Department
> as a corporate mandate. Part of this lock down includes the
> inability
> to change (or even have) a desktop wallpaper, and the
> inability to add
> or remove desktop icons (as well as not having admin rights
> but that's
> not part of this question). Being innovatove mechanical
> engineers we
> are looking at ways to avoid the generics we're about to
> receive.
>
> We do have the rights to create folders locally and we have
> found ways
> to create background in folders. We can make these folder
> backgrounds
> anything we want, and we can add icons for our local
> applications into
> this folder. We can also maximize this folder so it ends up
> being a
> sort of desktop wallpaper and desktop icons without really
> being
> desktop stuff.
>
> Our question is to find out with Windows XP if there is any
> way to
> display a folder maximized and not have the folder list or
> File and
> Folder Tasks menu at the left hand side of the window and can
> you get
> rid of the menu bar and buttons from the top??? Basically we
> are
> trying to find a way to maximize a folder and not have much
> of
> anything 'displayed' except the folder background and the
> icons (or
> contents) of the folder. If it involves installing app's of
> any kind,
> as stated before, we won't have admin rights so that is out.
>
> Any hints or tricks before we end up in our bland generic
> world???
> Thanks!

Go to Control Panel and double click Folder Options. On the
General page, select "Use Windows classic folders" in the Tasks
section. Click OK. This should remove the common tasks pane
from the left hand side of the window.

To remove items at the top of the window you can right click on
the toolbar and click on any checked items so they are not
displayed. Another option is to hit the F11 key which will open
the folder to full screen. Once it's in full screen mode, right
click on the toolbar and select on Auto-Hide from the menu.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Thanks for the hints, we'll give it a try. Anything will beat staring
at a desktop wallpaper that looks more like the blue screen of death
then the sun setting on the beach :O)