Apple Mac - removing things from your desktop

[Elf]

Hi, could anyone tell me how to remove all these things I've got on my desktop? Every time I have downloaded something, an icon appears of it on the desktop and it is overflowing and looks awful.

I've tried dragging them to the trashcan but this doesn't work.

Any tips gratefully received. Thanks.

That's odd - usually you just drag them to the bin. Restart and try again?

well, Hobnob, maybe it's because I had the applications thing open but yes, it has just worked. Thank you very much!!

I set mine to delete after download as it saves on cluttering up the desktop and hidden files.