my desktop is getting filled up with shortcut icons . Every program I download has 2 icons ,one the set up and the other that launches the program . Can I delete the setup icons without deleting the actual program ?

Usually deleting the setup files will not give you a problem. Hasn't hurt me yet. Dell Dimension 4600i Windows XP Home v2002 SP2 Microsoft Office 2003 Pentium 4 @ 2.8GHz 512MB DDR RAM 40GB HD ...A good computer takes good care of their computer...

You answered your question yourself. they are shortcut icons. delete them if they are cluttering up your desktop. You can also if you wish, create a folder on your desktop to store them in and then drag that folder down to the righthand end of your taskbar. it then creates a quicklaunch menu in the taskbar. (as long as your taskbar is unlocked first) Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and his wife will never forgive you.

Don't download items to your desktop, make a folder in my document or something and when you are downloading somewhere, switch it to there in the little box on the top where it says "save in". Then if you ever have to reinstall a program you will have the set up file.

thanks firefox ,should have thought of that myself