Hi doodle bug : ) what kind of system are you using? is it a PC or a Mac? In PC land the key/mouse strokes/clicks are as follows.

click on a blank spot on your desktop (that makes it the active window) if u have one lol.

then press the Ctl (control) key and the a key (that selects all the icons)

press the control key again and while holding it down click on the icons you WANT TO SAVE!!! they will be deslected when you do this. but it leaves the icons that you want to get rid of highlighted.

then simply either drag these to the recycle bin or right click on any icon you want to get rid of. in the context menu that folows select the option that says send to recycle bin.

then empty your recycle bin and boom clean desktop.

if you need Mac instructions message me (i know those key strokes too - as i work on both systems).