Hide/delete printers icon from the network window?

Hi all
i have 3 pc's on my local network - xp/vista/win7
none of them connected to a printer, print spooler service is disabled for all of them via "services.msc"

Now why do i see the printers icon(folder) on each pc network window in vista? (in the photo xp pc window is shown)?
i do not have printers icon shown in xp nor win7 pc's network window-only in vista.
if i press on the icon i get folder called printers which is empty ...
When i right click on the icon i have 3 options:1-explore 2-open 3-create shortcut.
So how can i Hide/delete printers icon?
thanks

Welcome
I have researched your problem and this is the best that I can find
Network - Add or Remove from Navigation Pane - Windows 7 Forums

You may want to try to go to devices and printers and make sure that all printers are uninstalled, in addition to the above

thanks Richard,
But i'd like to remove only the printers icons not all the network navigation pane.
-i never installed any printer to my pc's

richc46 said:

Navigation Pane - Show All Folders - Windows 7 Forums

Click to expand...

thanks again, but vista has no option "show all folders " like in win7

I thought so. Im trying to find something that will meet your needs. There have been no other questions like this in Vista and research is not coming up with much, but Im still trying

thanks again for your effort but no good
1-i tried to insert win7 .reg to vista
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"NavPaneShowAllFolders"=dword:00000001
it did not help - so i deleted it .
2- i tried to check/Uncheck Display simple folder view in Navigation pane
it did not help as well , both way the printers icon is there ...

Hi prukeyhi,

I'm sorry to say that I do not believe what you want to do is possible with Vista software. I've read another thread where this was confirmed. That thread did mention third-party software that might do the trick, but only named it and I'm not sure if I identified the correct software - plus it is rather expensive and I could find no freeware that does this. It was called TuneUp System Control. The thread is here: http://www.vistax64.com/network-sharing/281706-how-remove-printer-folder.html.

I looked for this software, and after a long search, it seems it is this (or a prior version): TuneUp Utilities 2011 | Betanews but you need to ignore the link in that article and get the version at: TuneUp Utilities to be compatible with Vista - but I am far from certain if it is the one that supposedly worked even if it seems to offer features which might do such a thing. But again, it is not free. Still, it does offer a short, free trial (which you need to be careful to cancel if you decide to try it out) and you should NOT use any of the Registry Cleaning or Enhancing features of the product - in fact, knowing little about it, I'd just stick to only what you want to do and then cancel it before you get caught keeping it beyond the trial period (I didn't check out the trial offer). And that's assuming it's actually the product in that other thread and not something else entirely and that it does what this person said and not something similar which isn't exactly what you want. As with all 3rd party software, the risk and the decision is entirely yours - I am not recommending it (merely presenting it as an option for you to consider).

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

thank you Lorien for your detailed answer.
i tried TuneUp Utilities™ 2011- there was no such option as i was looking for.

If there isn't a solution i'll leave it the way it is.
thanks again for you & Richard

You are very welcome
Hope that your New Year turns out great.

Hi prukeyhi,

Sorry that didn't work - as I said, I'm not sure it's the same program and I'm not sure the solution that was deemed acceptable was the one you are looking for (he may have found removing all network folders or references to be acceptable). At this point, I'd have to say that what you want simply isn't possible with Vista.

I wish we could have helped, but sometimes we are constrained by the limitations of Vista and not even 3rd party programs can help.

Good luck and best wishes!

No problemo, we all trying our best
thanks again for your kindness,
and best wishes
Lorien and Richard.

TY very much for your kind words.