Be it GNOME or KDE, most Linux power users prefer to have their desktops slick and geeky with screenlets, gadgets, docks or conky. But I on the other hand (cannot call myself a power user) like to keep my Ubuntu desktop clean without any visual clutter by preventing nautilus from drawing icons. It is only then I believe the true beauty of a wallpaper can be relished.
To treat yourself with a clean desktop, bring up the run application dialog with Alt + F2.
Type gconf-editor to invoke the GNOME configuration editor. Navigate to the key /apps/nautilus/preferences and scroll down to the key show_desktop. Uncheck the box next to the key under the value column.
P.S. : Right-clicking on the desktop is disabled with this setting
