Hide the Desktop

This article can be espically useful if you are making a security program or just want to clear up your desktop without deleting anything.

Add a new module (modMain). Copy the following code into
the general declarations procedure:

Option Explicit
DefLng A-Z

Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32" _
  Alias "FindWindowExA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, _
  ByVal hWndChild As Long, _
  ByVal lpszClassName As String, _
  ByVal lpszWindow As String) As Long
Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" _
  (ByVal hWnd As Long, _
  ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long

'-- Constants for ShowWindow()
Public Const SW_HIDE = 0
Public Const SW_NORMAL = 1
Public Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
Public Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
Public Const SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4
Public Const SW_SHOW = 5
Public Const SW_MINIMIZE = 6
Public Const SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7
Public Const SW_SHOWNA = 8
Public Const SW_RESTORE = 9
Public Const SW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10

'-- Names of the shell window we'll be looking for
Public Const g_cstrShellViewWnd As String = "Progman"

Add a form (frmMain) To the form add two command buttons,
cmdHideDesktop and cmdShowDesktop. Copy the following code into the form’s General
Declarations procedure:

Option Explicit
DefLng A-Z

Private Function FindShellWindow() As Long
Dim hWnd As Long
On Error Resume Next

hWnd = FindWindowEx(0&, 0&, _
  g_cstrShellViewWnd, vbNullString)

If hWnd <> 0 Then
  FindShellWindow = hWnd
End If

End Function

Private Sub HideShowWindow(ByVal hWnd As Long, _
  Optional ByVal Hide As Boolean = False)

 Dim lngShowCmd As Long
 On Error Resume Next

 If Hide = True Then
   lngShowCmd = SW_HIDE
 Else
   lngShowCmd = SW_SHOW
 End If

 Call ShowWindow(hWnd, lngShowCmd)

End Sub

Private Sub cmdShowDesktop_Click()
 Dim hWnd As Long
 On Error Resume Next

 '-- Find the window we're 
 ' looking for and then hide it
 hWnd = FindShellWindow()

 If hWnd <> 0 Then
   Call HideShowWindow(hWnd)
 End If

End Sub

Private Sub cmdHideDesktop_Click()
 Dim hWnd As Long
 On Error Resume Next

 hWnd = FindShellWindow()

 If hWnd <> 0 Then
   Call HideShowWindow(hWnd, True)
 End If

End Sub