# ICONS without TEXT please HELP



## blackcell (Nov 9, 2004)

I am currently running winME but want to have ICONS without text, is this possible with my operating system if so how. would someone be so good to tell a beginer how to do this in clear steps.

all suggestions gratefully apreciated.


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## essy46 (Apr 23, 2004)

Just want you to know, I'm in NO WAY an expert on ANYTHING to do with computers .. but after reading your post, I googled. You might want to read this ..

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-137

It might be what you're wanting to know.

Have a good day! : )


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

Every icon has to have a unique name. You could use a combination of "invisible" characters if you want.

One invisible character is Alt+255
(Hold down the Alt key, and use the keypad to enter 255, then release the Alt key.)


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Iconoid lets you do lots of things but not what you want.

But it's free 

http://www.sillysot.com/


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

There are things like the Transparent Icons program mentioned that let you change the color of the text and the background. Guess what happens if you make them both the same color, or transparent?


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## jdl (Jan 4, 2005)

I copied this from lockergnome.com:

"If you would like some of your desktop Icons to have no text underneath then try this;

Right click the icon and select [Rename]
Name the icon Alt+255 and hit Enter
( this means you hold down the Alt key and type 255 then release the Alt key )
The text will be gone from the icon.

For each successive icon to have the text eliminated, repeat the above sequence adding an additional Alt+255 sequence. For example, the second no text icon would be 'renamed' Alt+255 Alt+255, the third no text icon Alt+255 Alt+255 Alt+255, etc.....Mind you I just tried it and ALT 255 was all I needed to do on each one on XP HOME."

Let me know if it works on your windows version please.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

I just did it on 98SE and it did not work. 
It still had a name because it put a _ in the space so it renamed it with a underline.
But doing it as you said for a 2nd. 3rd etc works but again it added the _ underline.


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## jdl (Jan 4, 2005)

I'm out of ideas...


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

Hewee, and what happened when you typed Alt+255?

If nothing happened then you are probably using the keys on the main part of the keyboard (i.e. 2/@ and 5/%). You must only use the numeric keypad, and (usually) you must ensure that the "NumLock" is on. 
Also, the character only appears AFTER you then let the Alt key go.

That Alt+255 character does work in all versions of Windows; it even works in DOS. It has been a trick used for many years.
To test to see if you are doing it right, try Alt+88, (again just using the numeric keypad). Alt+88 is the letter "X"


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

It does not work Chuck. I did it just like you said.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

hewee is correct, it doesn't work on W98, just tried it myself. It leaves a dash behind.


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## jdl (Jan 4, 2005)

From here.

"Windows Tweak: Remove Desktop Icon Titles

Have you ever tried to completely remove the titles under your desktop icons? With certain Windows icons like My Computer and Internet Explorer, a simple rename using a single spacebar keystroke will do the trick, but not with most of your other programs. They need an actual name, and will revert back to their originals if you try to remove them completely.

Todays tweak is a great trick that replaces text you can read with text your computer does not display. Windows will not let you name an icon with a single spacebar entry, but it will let you use the ASCII code for a space, which is 0160.

Heres how you do it:

1. To rename your icon, right-click and choose Rename.

2. Erase all text.

3. Make sure the NumLock key in on. Hold down the Alt key while typing 0160 on your number pad.

4. After typing in 0160, let go of the Alt key. Youll see a blank space inserted with your cursor.

5. Press Enter to save the new name.

This method gets more complicated when you want to remove the text of multiple icons. Since Windows still needs each icon to have a unique name, the above instructions should only work for one icon. A solution is to enter the ASCII code following directions 1-5, then repeating steps 1-5 again within the same icon (which will move the cursor two spaces). As long as each icon has a different name, youll get the same results"

Those of you with different windows versions, see if it works with the "space" Alt + number code.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

I also said "what happened?"
I also said try Alt+88, since an X ought to have been entered.

Maybe you "did it just like I said" maybe you didn't, I can't tell until you give me a clue as to what results when you do it.

Alt+(keypad number from 1 to 255) has been around since the original PC. I am pretty sure the special keystroke just didn't "jump" one version of an MS OS. I am also sure I have done it on a W98 PC, but I don't have one here to try it. I'll have to wait until Monday, where I can try on a PC at work.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

jdl said:


> it will let you use the ASCII code for a space, which is 0160.


Actually ASCII 160 is the code for a NBSP (Non-breaking space).
The correct code for a space is ASCII 32.

The usual visable ACSII character set is from 33 to 126.
ASCII 32 is the space, and ASCII 127 is the Delete character.
Anything from 128 to 255 are characters that include European characters, block characters, things like copyright, plus.minus, etc.

Depending upon your character set and font, some of those characters require a leading 0, as in Alt-188 (a graphic double-corner generally used in DOS) vs. a Alt+0188 (¼) (one-fourth).

Much more detail of the characters can be found on the very informative and free ASCIIcat: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/r_harvey/

There are also ASCII codes defined from ASCII 0 to 31, by, again depending upon the program you are in, and the font in use, those codes may appear - or not. (ASCII 3=♥ 5=♣ 6= 9=○ 11=♂ 12=♀ etc.)


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## jdl (Jan 4, 2005)

ChuckE said:


> Actually ASCII 160 is the code for a NBSP (Non-breaking space).
> The correct code for a space is ASCII 32.
> 
> 
> ...


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## jdl (Jan 4, 2005)

ChuckE said:


> Actually ASCII 160 is the code for a NBSP (Non-breaking space).
> The correct code for a space is ASCII 32.


Very informative...

Do ANY of the space codes work to accomplish what the original poster, blackcell, wants to do? We've beat this thread to death with "stuff" and seem to have lost track of the problem. He wanted to have no text in his desktop icons using winME. Have we solved his problem? Is anyone with WinME participating in the discussion?

There are several other Alt codes which might work too...

Alt + 8204 and Alt + 8205 are possible candidates.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

Until *blackcell* comes back, we'll not know if any other these posts helped. I just checked, his last posting was the one above.

Did anything, we've bantered about, work for him . . . ?

I also have a WinME workstation at work, and on Monday I'll try the Alt+255 character there, as well. I really don't doubt that it will work.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

It's interesting that a different code works for XP and 98, but we seem to have a problem finding an ME user.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

I think I will just keep my names. 

But that one does work on 98.


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## anglin_fool (Oct 2, 2001)

Kewl . . . 

I use ME and thought I'd try it . . .

Alt + 0160 will take out the first one. When I tried the second icon, it didn't work unless I put a space and another Alt + 0160.


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## ChuckE (Aug 30, 2004)

The reason it didn't work is because you already had one item on the desktop (or whatever location you were at) with that name. As I said, back in Msg#3, "Every icon has to have a unique name"

You could have name the 2nd item "Alt+0160 Alt+0160"
the third being "Alt+0160 Alt+0160 Alt+0160" etc.
or any combination of acceptable characters, just as long as you don't try to use the same name twice.

Trying to do so will result with the error message (in WinXP, your OS version may vary):
*Cannot rename <whatever>: A file with the name you specified already exists. Specify a different file name.*


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