So the question is:
Why would I want to hide my desktop icons? Well there are many great reasons!
1) SECURITY! Imagine if you could download stuff to your desktop and then not have your little brother see it. No need to download fancy security programs that slow down your computer and make you type in a password. The other benefit is that now you don't have to hide your private data inside folders with weird names making it harder for you to find your stuff. With just a couple clicks, you can hide all the items on your desktop or show them again. This makes it fast and easy to secure your stuff on the desktop. NOTE: do not use this method secure files of life and death matters.
2) See your wallpaper! With today's busy world, more and more people are having cluttered desktops with files all over the place. Now you can enjoy your beautiful, calming, cool wallpaper!
"HOW DO I DO IT ALREADY?!" Ok, on to the instructions:
Right-click an empty space on your desktop and click on Arrange Icons > Show Desktop Icons
VOILA! You can also try this trick on your friends/family to scare the crap out of people. I knew a friend that combined the print screen command with this trick. Here's how you pull this great prank. Take a print screen of the person's desktop with all the icons. And then hide their desktop icons, and then make the desktop snapshot their wallpaper and watch them exclaim, "I can't click on my icons!!" Hilarious joke, just make sure you can undo the prank or things could get nasty.
Windows 
