How to lock icon positions on desktop in Yosemite

[ranger1]

Hello all,

For countless non Apple software compatibility issues with El Capitan (or later) installed, I reinstalled Yosemite 10.10.5 over El Capitan (a major achievement in Apple's world) so that I could use software suites I had purchased but which El Capitan and later versions (I shudder to think) rendered useless.

I am running OS X 10.10.5 on a 21.5" late 2009 iMac with 4GB RAM installed. I wish to secure the positions of all icons for external HDs, desktop folders etc. which I have placed in suitable locations on the desktop WITHOUT OS X relocating them wherever it likes, after restart.

Can anyone please advise a solution to what should be a fairly basic OS X management in the OS X world in the 21st century?

Sincerely, ranger1.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

Click on the desktop, Press COMMAND + J to open the view dialog. from the drop down menu set 'Sort by' to none.

 

[honestone]

What third party software are you having issue with, ie, that are not compatible with El Capitan? This site can help you with that:

https://roaringapps.com/apps

For myself, I have 6 critical apps that I have always needed to upgrade before getting to most prior versions of the Mac OS, including El Capitan (and more recently Sierra. Still waiting on 3 of my apps for High Sierra).

 

[ranger1]

Click on the desktop, Press COMMAND + J to open the view dialog. from the drop down menu set 'Sort by' to none.

Thank you Lufbrarunner, that worked a treat!

 

[ranger1]

What third party software are you having issue with, ie, that are not compatible with El Capitan? This site can help you with that:

https://roaringapps.com/apps

For myself, I have 6 critical apps that I have always needed to upgrade before getting to most prior versions of the Mac OS, including El Capitan (and more recently Sierra. Still waiting on 3 of my apps for High Sierra).

Thank you honestone for your swift reply. I've bookmarked the roaring apps site for further reference.
I checked 2 apps that would not work satisfactorily with El Capitan (Photoshop Elements 8) or work at all (MPEGStreamclip).

roaring apps says both these apps work with El Capitan but that is inaccurate. PSE 8 becomes virtually unusable; clipboards do not work; many files cannot be opened - I gave up and tried to forget those troublesome times.
MPEGStreamclip (an open source uniquely capable video converter/manipulator software not supported since Yosemite) will not work at all. The program recognises the name of an .mp4 file but cannot open it.

Thank you again for your generous advice.

Sincerely, ranger1.