I don't find the desktop to be of much use, too many icons take away from the image I choose to display, but I do use the desktop toolbar from the taskbar quite a bit.
There are icons that I cannot remove from the desktop toolbar such as the Network & Control Panel icons they won’t leave the toolbar, and I can’t seem to kill the IE icon off for good, either. Does anyone know how to kill them dead and send them to Vista Hell?

Hi gtghip,
Here's a tutorial to show how to disable notification icons.
Notification Area - System Icons[11]=Taskbar Start Menu
And to get rid of the IE icon, right click on taskbar, Properties, Uncheck Show Quicklaunch, Apply.

Thanks for the insight but it doesn't apply to the scenario which I have. I am referring to the Desktop Toolbar which is located on the Taskbar. I tried your method to make sure but none of it worked. I have inserted a screenshot of the toolbar I am referring to below. I am able to delete all 3 of them but the next time I click the chevron they are back again. Computer and Recycle Bin are the only 2 that are checked on the Desktop Icon Settings screen. If I make the Icons visible on the Desktop then none of the 3 are there, they only appear from the Desktop Toolbar.

Try going to start menu, type shell:desktop, click on that and delete from there.

Thanks againderekimo. That appears to have the same affect as when I try to delete them from the taskbar, they go away until the next time I click the chevron then they are back, only they are at the bottom of the list.

Yeah I just noticed it did that to me too. I've been looking all over and I haven't found exactly what you want. What if you just made a new toolbar and just put the shortcuts that you want in that one, then just uncheck the desktop toolbar if you like.
You would first create a folder and put all the shortcuts in that, then when you select new toolbar from right click on taskbar you navigate to that folder.
Not exactly what you wanted but it's a means to an end.

Thank-you derekimo, I'll play around with that for a while, who knows I might like the outcome better.

Originally Posted by gtghip

Thank-you derekimo, I'll play around with that for a while, who knows I might like the outcome better.

You're welcome, Let us know how that works for you.