How to reset your Linux desktop environment

We have discovered that the desktop environment sometimes misbehaves: the panel at the bottom may no longer respond to mouse clicks, or the Home and Start Here icons may no longer open.

Our solution is to eliminate all configuration files related to: the file manager Nautilus, the desktop environment Gnome, the window manager Sawfish, and the X-server XFree86. Default versions of these files will be created automatically when you next log in.

Note: By following this procedure, you will lose many customizations, such as changes to your desktop background color, which icons appear on the desktop, and which icons appear in your panel.

1. If you are logged in graphically, log out. (It is crucial that the following steps not be performed from within the graphical environment. Merely opening a Terminal window is insufficient. You must exit the graphical environment according to these instructions.)
2. Press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to reach a text-only login screen.
3. Log in to the text-only environment.
4. Issue the following commands to delete things. Be careful to spell everything correctly (notice the period preceding the filenames)!

   cd
   rm -rf .AbiSuite
   rm -rf .acrobat
   rm -rf .adobe*
   rm -rf .cache
   rm -rf .config/xfce4
   rm -rf .djvurc
   rm -rf .dmrc
   rm -rf .esd*
   rm -rf .enlightenment
   rm -rf .esd*
   rm -rf .flexlmrc*
   rm -rf .fontalias
   rm -rf .fonts*
   rm -rf .gconf*
   rm -rf .gnome*
   rm -rf .gksu*
   rm -rf .gtkrc*
   rm -rf .ICEauthority
   rm -rf .icons
   rm -rf .java*
   rm -rf .kde
   rm -rf .macromedia
   rm -rf .maple
   rm -rf .matlab
   rm -rf .mc
   rm -rf .mcop
   rm -rf .metacity
   rm -rf .nautilus
   rm -rf .nautilus-metafile.xml
   rm -rf .netscape*
   rm -rf .openoffice
   rm -rf .recently-used
   rm -rf .rhn-applet.conf
   rm -rf .sawfish
   rm -rf .trash
   rm -rf .update-notifier
   rm -rf .Xauthority
   rm -rf .xsession-errors

5. To make some Gnome applications run a bit faster, you can avoid some issues with lockfiles under NFS by giving the following command:

   ln -s /dev/null .recently-used

6. Log out.
7. Press Ctrl-Alt-F7 to return to the graphical login screen.
8. Log in. You should have a brand new desktop.