That is the sort of thing i'm trying to get round to. I'd like to keep
the toolbars on the bottom and put icons on the desktop for the most
frequently used. I gather one goes into Gconf and edit the apps menu. I
thought installing KDE would do that and provide a way of getting icons
as it was more windows in style. I realise now that was a not the route
to go down. Much better it seems is to remain standard ubuntu and to get
it running as fast as you want; switch to reduced resources, remove apps
you don't want and install those that you do [e.g. replace Evolution
with Thunderbird (as i've used it in windoze and like it)].