Hi Hazz,
take a look at this guide and the "Dconf Editor" section, make sure "dconf-tools" is installed, here are the main ones I posted:
Show date and day in clock:
Dconf Editor > Com > Canonical > Indicator > Datetime > Show Date/Show Day
Change global font size:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Desktop > Interface > Text-scaling-factor 1.0 (1.0 = font size 10. and 1.1 would be font size 11 and so on) (Mine is set to 1.2 = Font size 12)
Change icon size on desktop:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Nautilus > Icon-View > Default-Zoom-Level = Small
Show/Hide buttons:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Gnome Panel > Layout > Toplevels > Top Panel
Show/Hide Desktop icons = Trash/Computer/Home;
Dconf-Editor > Org > Gnome > Nautilus > Desktop
Stop Media Auto Mounting:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Desktop > Media-Handling > Automount/Automount-open/Autorun Never
You can of course use the guide for other things too!!.
Regards Wolfman