How to Reset GNOME Panels to Defaults

Recently, I encountered an unusual graphics corruption bug in my lower GNOME panel. The panel still worked perfectly fine, but it was covered in unusual corruption artefacts, and it looked unsightly. I don’t think many people will actually have this problem, but it was an incredibly simple and easy fix, so I decided to share it on my blog. This may also be useful if you manage to mess up your panel layout, and you just want to start from a fresh slate. The fix is simple: just delete the directory where your GNOME panel configuration files are stored, and GNOME will automatically create a new configuration folder using the default settings the next time you login. The quickest way to do this (in my opinion) is through the terminal. Simply open up a terminal, and paste in the following command:

rm -rfv $HOME/.gconf/apps/panel

Now log out and log back in. Your GNOME panel settings will be reset to their defaults. Enjoy!