I have just installed Mandriva Spring-Free edition. Everything went well except the My computer icon is grayed out and won't respond. When I right click and select open, still nothing happens. As a result I can not see any of the hard drives or cdrom.
The other icon's work fine. Does the 'Mycomputer' need to be configured?

I don't recall ever seeing a "My Computer" icon on a Mandriva desktop. Did you install one of the live CD's. I have never used one of those. They are not the same as the "Free" edition. "Free" has nothing to do with whether or not you paid for it, it means it contains only free (open source) software.

Do you have a "Devices" icon? That's where you'll usually see your drives.

Jim

There is no "My Computer" icon on any Mandriva Linux desktop as a default item, not even Mandriva One. I have seen this on only one desktop, and IIRC, it was on a Suse installation. I will get the Suse DVD image and install it to a VM to confirm, then return and post the results.

Did you have Suse installed before Mandriva? If you did, the icon may be a left-over from the Suse installation that is still in your user directory.

HTH,

Thanks, that is it. I had Suse installed previously. I didn't know Mandriva did not utilise this so I was surprised that it was there but grayed out. Obviously I assumed something was wrong with my installation.
It amazes me how different the versions of Linux are even though they may be using the same KDEdesk top.

It simply demonstrates the versatility of Linux. All Linux distributions are built on the same source code base, so they are all still Linux. The things that set each distribution apart include how the distributor organizes the distribution, how the distribution is configured, and what distribution specific software is included.

The Suse My Computer icon is one example. If you have become accustomed to using that icon to access your system management tools, you may be able to edit its properties to point to the Mandriva Control Center (/usr/sbin/drakconf), or if you prefer, the KDE Control Center (kcontrol).

I prefer to keep icons for the applications I use regularly in a menu bar at the top of my screen along with the main system menu, and tray applets in kickker at the bottom with the system clock. My task bar resides at the right side of the screen and expands only when I open another window (creates a list of running applications I can click to switch windows easily). The only icons that reside on the desktop are associated with current project(s). This makes it easier for me to keep things organized, not to mention how much easier it is to find what I am looking for.

My