I don't like icons on my desktop. On Windows I simply click right on the desktop and uncheck "Show Desktop Icons" or so. Couldn't find any similar option in Ubuntu 10.10.
To disable the desktop icons, press Alt + F2 and type gconf-editor and hit Enter. After the Configuration Editor opens, expand the "apps" tree and scroll down and expand the "nautilus" menu, click on "preferences" and uncheck "show_desktop".
To disable the desktop icons, press Alt + F2 and type
gconf-editorand hit Enter. After the Configuration Editor opens, expand the "apps" tree and scroll down and expand the "nautilus" menu, click on "preferences" and uncheck "show_desktop".