unwanted icons on desktop

I have 2 icons that I can't explain on my desktop. I'd like to delete them, but I don't want to cause problems with my computer.
1) Macintosh HD - I'm thinking this one is supposed to be there, but I'm not sure...what happens if I hit "clean up selection"?
2) Quick Time Player - I may have put this one there because I couldn't figure out how to use it. But now I have it on the desktop, in the dock and in system preferences.

Suggestions?

The HDD is suppose to be there. You can delete the quick time off the desktop.

Nothing bad will happen if you click "clean up selection." It just organizes the stuff on your desktop to look a little neater than it is.

how about .DS_Store? I have documents like that one all over the place.

The ".DS_Store" is a hidden file that saves the attributes of the folders on your computer. I'm not sure why you're seeing them. They should be invisible. Normally you would only see them if you were accessing the contents of your Mac from a Windows computer over a network.

There's probably a way in the Finder to hide them, but I'm not sure what it is. Otherwise, you might want to download a program like OnyX or SuperDocker. There's an option on those apps that will let you hide those .DS_Store files. (Just make sure that "Show hidden files" is unchecked.)

As for the Macintosh HD icon, you can hide that too. Go to the Finder and hit Command + , to go into the Preferences. In the window that appears, click on General and uncheck "Hard disks" That should make the icon disappear from your desktop.

CrimsonRequiem said:

The HDD is suppose to be there. You can delete the quick time off the desktop.

Nothing bad will happen if you click "clean up selection." It just organizes the stuff on your desktop to look a little neater than it is.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

And with Tiger or Leopard you really do not need to show the HD icon. Go to Finder (in the menu bar), preferences and deselect show HD.