iv messed up my desktop

[mayor89]

I dont know how but i changed my desktop on linux from the default one which i loved to one that looks like a crap version of windows! how do i get my old one back! (also you will have to give me idiot proof instructions im new to linux and not very good with computers in general)

also wen i click the start button it use to do a a funky thing where it shrinks all my screens it no longer does that thanx !

[elija]

Hi mayor89, welcome to the forums.

Which distro are you using?

[mayor89]

i think it was gnome ! it had a side bar looks like a cross between windows 7 and mac!! whats xfce! i a computer novice but im loving lunux ! i feel like it opened my eyes to how computers should be!! whats this xfce and how do i get it

[elija]

Did it look like ?

Anyway here is a comparison of some of the desktop environments for Linux.

[mayor89]

no it was similar tho i think i may have had gonme shell! what do you think is the best desktop to have! i know nothing about linux yet so i havnt got a clue

[mayor89]

also i dont know what a destro is

[atreyu]

Yes, you do, you just didn't know they were called that. Examples are Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, etc.

To figure out your distro - how did Linux get onto your computer in the first place? Did you download an ISO and install it from that, or what? That should be enough to tell you. If you did not install it, or don't remember, let us know and we'll tell you how to run a command in a Terminal window to get that info.

[mayor89]

i installed it with a disk i downloaded off the net! i liked ht e default desktop but i logged in today and i dont know how or why but it was all different i want the old on back.. if you can please tell how to do that it would be great or iff you got any advice on a better desktop. the one i have know looks and acts like windows xp ! thanks for your help.. cant believe how helpful ppl are on here

[MikeTbob]

No matter which distro you are using, you can reset the desktop by moving or deleting the appropriate folder in your home directory. Open a terminal window (command line) and issue the command, this will give us an idea of what you have.

ls -la

[mayor89]

[laptop@computer ~]$ ls -la
total 308
drwx------. 39 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 12 00:26 .
drwxr-xr-x. 4 root root 4096 Jan 8 00:33 ..
drwxrwxr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 .abrt
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 01:32 .adobe
drwx------. 9 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 19:14 .amsn
-rw-------. 1 laptop laptop 414 Jan 11 20:44 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 18 Jun 22 2011 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 193 Jun 22 2011 .bash_profile
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 124 Jun 22 2011 .bashrc
drwx------. 15 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 10 02:28 .cache
-rw-------. 1 laptop laptop 593 Jan 11 12:52 .camstream
drwxrwxr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 10 02:21 .camstream-upload
drwx------. 17 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 9 11:36 .config
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 .dbus
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 Documents
drwxr-xr-x. 13 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 12 00:21 Downloads
-rw-------. 1 laptop laptop 16 Jan 8 00:34 .esd_auth
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 23:38 .gconf
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 01:22 .gnash
drwx------. 5 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 12:53 .gnome2
drwx------. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 10 02:12 .gnome2_private
drwx------. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 10 00:26 .gnupg
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 3072 Jan 8 02:05 .grl-bookmarks
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 2048 Jan 8 02:05 .grl-metadata-store
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 02:05 .grl-podcasts
drwxrwxr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 12:53 .gstreamer-0.10
-rw-rw-r--. 1 laptop laptop 2085 Jan 11 23:38 .gtk-bookmarks
dr-x------. 2 laptop laptop 0 Jan 11 23:38 .gvfs
-rw-------. 1 laptop laptop 7130 Jan 11 23:38 .ICEauthority
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 1368 Jan 11 23:38 .imsettings.log
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 02:14 .kde
drwxr-xr-x. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 .local
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 01:32 .macromedia
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 .mission-control
drwxr-xr-x. 5 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:35 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 Music
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 12 00:28 Pictures
drwxrw----. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:49 .pki
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 Public
drwx------. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 .pulse
-rw-------. 1 laptop laptop 256 Jan 8 00:34 .pulse-cookie
drwxrwxr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 22:34 .qt
-rw-r--r--. 1 laptop laptop 21 Jan 11 18:32 .setroubleshoot
drwxrwxr-x. 6 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 08:32 .shotwell
drwx------. 5 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 23:22 .Skype
drwx------. 4 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 19:18 .speech-dispatcher
drwx------. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 10 00:26 .ssh
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 00:34 Templates
drwx------. 5 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 8 17:44 .thumbnails
drwxr-xr-x. 2 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 22:12 .unicap
drwxr-xr-x. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 22:17 Videos
-rw-------. 1 laptop laptop 92281 Jan 12 00:58 .xsession-errors
drwx------. 3 laptop laptop 4096 Jan 11 12:55 .yahoorc
[laptop@computer ~]$


this is what i get when i do that