Viewing hidden icons

Certain file icons are normally hidden from view. They are called dot files, because their names start with a period ("."). By convention, files that contain configuration information for the Desktop, programs, and your computer environment are dot files. Because you rarely need to modify such files, it makes sense to hide them and eliminate clutter in your windows.

If you want to see what dot files are in a directory, select Toggle dot files from the directory window's View menu. To hide the dot files again, re-select that menu item.