I used to use Windows back in the XP days and there used to be a button on the Task Bar that would temporarily hide open windows and show the Desktop:
Recently I started using Windows again and I am a bit lost!
Is there a similar button on Windows 10 that performs Show Desktop?
Starting in Windows 7, Microsoft made "Show Desktop" less discoverable but faster to use (once you know about it). Just throw your mouse to the bottom-right of your screen and click. The tiny rectangle to the right of the Clock is the Show Desktop button now.
Why is this faster? Fitts' Law.
(You can also use Win + D on the keyboard.)
The QuickLaunch “Show Desktop” link is one of the features I loved about Windows 98, and after they got rid of it by default in more recent versions of Windows I always made a point of manually re-creating it. Yes, now you can click in the bottom-right corner (as stated by Alan H); but that’s not obvious, and it’s not how people of my generation learned to show the desktop!
You can create the shortcut yourself. The link is:
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}
Personally I prefer to combine this with a re-creation of QuickLaunch, so the functionality and the look is identical to the classic “Show Desktop” feature.
Other answers are still valid, but the same icon from Windows XP still exists in 10.
It is the quicklaunch bar that is hidden.
You can reinstate it: unlock taskbar, right-click on it, toolbars, new toolbar, find %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet explorer\Quick launch, OK then fit it wherever you want and disable its title and icon names.
If you are on a laptop, you can use 3 fingers to do a swipe down motion on the touchpad and that should work.
Not a button, but you can right-click on the Taskbar & select "Show the desktop"
If there are no open windows (ie once you have the desktop showing) the option changes to "Show open windows"
There are multiple ways to get to the desktop now, as mentioned earlier the right side of the task bar button and also right click on the start menu (Win + X) and select Desktop
As mentioned in other answers, win+D will toggle minimizing and minimizing open windows. No one mentioned that win+M will minimize all without the toggle option.
Show the desktop by one of the methods previously offered. Then right click on it and select New then Shortcut. In the "Location of the item field" copy this exactly.
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}
click Next . Note the only blank is between .exe and shell Give it a suitable name and click Finish.
The icon may not be what you want so right click and select Properties then Change Icon. Make your choices. The icons offered will be from Explorer. You can browse to C:\windows\system32\imageres.dll for more icons. When finished you can drag it to the task bar or right click it and select Pin to taskbar.
I used to use Windows back in the XP days and there used to be a button on the Task Bar that would temporarily hide open windows and show the Desktop:
You can navigate to this link, it will tell you what to do: https://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-the-good-old-quick-launch-toolbar-back-in-windows-7/#http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-the-goo
Note: I use a slightly different method (it is what the URL used to describe), instead of the step where it says to type in '%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch' (which shows the newer desktop icon), I create a file in Notepad, Code to place in the file "Show Desktop.scf" (including the Quotes): [Shell] Command=2 IconFile=explorer.exe,3 [Taskbar] Command=ToggleDesktop
Then when creating a New Toolbar, select the folder that has "Show Desktop.scf". The rest of the steps are what the URL above says. This method shows the older 98 style desktop icon.
