On my primary Windows 10 PC, I have about twenty applications and folders icons on the desktop. I have spent a considerable amount of time carefully arranging them across the top and bottom of the screen. Although my desktop doesn’t look cluttered, I always hide icons with a keyboard shortcut.
If you also have thoughtfully arranged icons on the desktop and don’t want others to re-arrange them, here is a free utility to lock icons on the desktop.
Since Windows doesn’t offer an easy way to lock all the icons on the desktop, this free utility comes in handy for users who would like to lock desktop icons and prevent others from re-arranging them.
Lock desktop icons in Windows
DeskLock is a free application to prevent anyone from moving or re-arranging desktop icons. After running DeskLock software, you just need to right-click on the DeskLock icon running in the system tray, and then select Enabled option to lock down all icons on the desktop. Once icons are locked, it’s impossible to move icons on the desktop by dragging or dropping.
This desktop icon locking software takes its job very seriously by disabling right-clicking on the desktop when icons are locked! This is definitely a downside as we cannot quickly open the personalization or screen resolution window when icons are locked (can open the same by opening the Settings app).
With default settings, when you launch DeskLock on your PC, it automatically locks down desktop icons. If it fails to lock desktop icons on its first attempt, please right-click on the DeskLock icon in the system tray, deselect Enabled option, and then select Enabled option again. If you still having issues, right-click on the icon in the system tray, click Settings, and then click OK button.
As you can see, the default hotkey to disable DeskLock is Ctrl+Alt+D but you can change this under Settings.
Although this tool was released about 10 years ago, it is fully compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and the latest Windows 10. We tested this tiny tool on Windows 8.1 as well as Windows 10, and can confirm that it works as advertised. The tool is portable and hence, doesn’t require an installation.
Visit the following page to download DeskLock tool. The developer’s page has tens of tiny but quality applications to make your computing experience easier.
Download DeskLock
