Questions tagged [desktop-icons]

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40 votes
3 answers
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What are these green checkmarks on my Desktop icons?

I was playing the solitaire they added back in Windows 10 and when I closed it I noticed there were these green checkmarks on my Desktop icons: What are these green checkmarks on my desktop? How do I ...
Ken's user avatar
  • 401
19 votes
5 answers
25k views

Organize desktop icons on Windows into categories or sections

I want to organize my Windows desktop icons by categories. Multimedia, system tools, editors, etc. I need to define rectangular areas of the desktop, then place the shortcut icons. They would stay ...
P a u l's user avatar
  • 1,345
16 votes
5 answers
68k views

Where are native Windows 8 icons located?

I'm talking about simple white icons that appears on start screen. I want to use them on shortcuts. So, I need a file or .dll that contains metro icons.
yakunins's user avatar
  • 388
15 votes
2 answers
56k views

How to prevent black boxes on desktop icons in Windows after removing shortcut arrows?

When removing shortcut arrows using the regedit value %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50 in Shell Icons 29, black boxes cover up my desktop icons where the shortcut arrows used to be. How do I fix ...
Wandering Fool's user avatar
14 votes
8 answers
138k views

Desktop Icons Spaced Out?

My icons decided to s p a c e out a bit for some reason, and I can't seem to fix it. I've tried googling solutions, but to no avail. Here's a picture: Quite spaced out and kind of annoying. Could ...
Virtuality's user avatar
  • 1,300
12 votes
5 answers
12k views

Drag & Drop (a file) to Desktop Icons ceased to open it, Replaced with "Move to Desktop"

I used to be able to drag and drop files to some of my desktop icons (e.g. Notepad++, AstroGrep, etc.) to open them with the applications represented by those icons. About a month ago (can't recall ...
Withheld's user avatar
  • 173
8 votes
1 answer
62k views

How to display "My Computer" icon on a Windows 10 desktop?

I just installed Windows 10 on my PC, but I didn't find any way to set "My Computer" icon to show on my desktop. How can I place it on my desktop?
Mezbah's user avatar
  • 217
6 votes
4 answers
113k views

How can I change the desktop icon size in Windows 7 without the mouse wheel? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do I reduce the desktop icon size in Windows 7? In Windows 7, you can use Ctrl + the mouse wheel to change your icon size on your desktop. How do you do this on a laptop ...
th3dude's user avatar
  • 9,461
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Windows 10 desktop Icons rearrange when I change displays

I have two displays. Monitor 1 is 60hz 2650 x 1440 Monitor 2 is actually a drawing tablet, 1920 x 1080. I've had the tablet for a year and the monitor since I got my computer in 2017, but lately, I ...
The Colamarine's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Even smaller Windows 11 desktop icons

Just after installation, desktop icons were quite small, way smaller than on Windows 10, and this suited me well. Then having once clicked right button on desktop and choosing "View", I ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
18k views

How to change icons set for all common filetype in windows 8.1?

I'm using windows 8.1 and want to replace all my current icon set with Free File Icons. How to do that? These are the list of free icons offered in the set: AAC, AI, AIFF, AVI, C, CPP, CSS, DAT, ...
claws's user avatar
  • 4,319
4 votes
6 answers
103k views

How can I change font and color of the captions under the icons on the desktop?

I am trying to use a different font and color for the captions on the icons on the desktop. Under Personalize I have been able to change the icon spacing (both horizontal and vertical) and the size of ...
greenber's user avatar
  • 663
4 votes
1 answer
7k views

How can I change desktop icon spacing in Windows 8?

I can't seem to specify a per theme Windows desktop icon spacing. It used to be possible in Windows 7, to embed this in your theme (mystyle file). I cant find the effect in Winodws 8, and I wonder ...
Mikhail's user avatar
  • 3,852
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

How can I make the icon font color on a windows 7 prof desktop work?

I have C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Scenes\img25.jpg as wallpaper (I think it's a standard windows wallpaper.) The desktop icon font color is white. It cannot be read without heavy eye pain. I want it to ...
n611x007's user avatar
  • 6,406
4 votes
0 answers
3k views

Duplicate Windows 10 desktop icons so that they're visible on all monitors

I've recently got a second monitor for my PC. I'm running Windows 10 and I was wondering if there is a way to show the desktop icons that are on the main display on the other screen as well. ...
Paul Warnick's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
5k views

Gnome Settings - gsettings vs gconftool-2

In GNOME 3 desktop icons are hidden by default. I tried to show them up this way: gconftool-2 --set -t bool /org/gnome/desktop/background/show-desktop-icons true It didn't work. So I tried: ...
patryk.beza's user avatar
  • 1,551
3 votes
3 answers
15k views

Windows 10 icon names not wrapping after resolution and scaling changes

I changed the scaling and resolution of my monitor but it somehow messed up the icon names on my desktop. I have tried resetting and changing desktop theme but nothing seems to work. Icon names are ...
rxp3292's user avatar
  • 33
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Removing Windows 10 double focus rectangle

For some reason, Windows 10 started showing double (thick) focus rectangle for desktop icons and listview items. It is 2 pixels thick. How do I go back to single pixel (thin) focus rectangle as it ...
Coder12345's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
68 views

Icons are broken

I have a problem after installing a program to remove the arrows on the desktop icons. Instead of removing the arrows, all my icons do not appear properly. It is like half is showing. It is hard to ...
Frank Andersen's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
4k views

Windows 10 Desktop Icons in Tile View Mode

Not sure why this is happening, but all my Windows 10 icons are listing their file size. Each icon has a KB or Byte list next to them and the icon box is super duper wide. Folders are not like this, ...
meed96's user avatar
  • 2,191
2 votes
2 answers
7k views

Where are those crapware desktop icons located?

My new Acer Aspire One netbook came pre-installed with Windows 7 Starter and lots of other promotional software. Some of them (like Norton and McAfee) I uninstalled immediately. Others (like the ...
an00b's user avatar
  • 185
2 votes
2 answers
3k views

How do I remove the padding around the icons on my desktop so that they look normal?

Ever since upgrading to Windows 11, my desktop icons have an insane amount of spacing around them. It looks like my computer is somehow in some sort of tablet mode, but I can't find any setting to ...
Christopher Haws's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
6k views

How to hide or show all desktop icons from the command line

Without a reboot. There's a way to do this from the UI, but I'd like to be able to do this automatically. Essentially - how do I toggle this checkbox from the command line: I would like to change ...
Ash's user avatar
  • 121
2 votes
2 answers
8k views

In Windows 10, files saved to Desktop show up on the secondary monitor

Whenever I download a file from a browser, or just save a document to the desktop, the icon always shows up on my secondary monitor. Not the primary. So I'm constantly having to minimize windows on my ...
Andrew Lamarra's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
4k views

How can I fix corrupted shortcut icons?

One of my computers was showing really bad graphics problems, not only in Windows but also in the BIOS. I replaced the graphics card and most problems went away - except the .LNK shortcut icons in ...
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
456 views

Only Icons Missing from desktop

I opened the PC in the morning, and this is what I got: As is visible the icons of the UWA apps were no affected and the start menu also is unaffected. When Control Panel is in category view the ...
Rishabh Dhiman's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why can't I enable drop shadows on my Windows XP desktop icons?

I've been helping my grandfather maintain his old Dell for quite a while now, and every now and then something inexplicable will go wrong. The most recent issue is that the desktop icons refuse to ...
eckza's user avatar
  • 1,174
2 votes
1 answer
3k views

Windows 10 randomly places new desktop icons in top left corner

Sometimes when I, for example, extract a folder from an archive with WinRAR to the desktop, the folder gets placed in the top left corner of the desktop and messes up the ordering of other icons. But ...
nyaol9's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes
0 answers
208 views

Trust and launch all desktop files after restart RHEL 7

My 64-bit computer running RHEL 7.5 was recently updated to kernel version 3.10.0-862.el7. Since then, every time I restart my computer, all of my desktop icons are gone and replaced by generic file ...
Kasia Matusik's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
1k views

Desktop icon layout keeps changing when resuming from standby

I use my laptop for college and as a result, it's moved around a lot. When the lid is shut I have it going to standby, but however every time I resume it, my desktop layout changes. It goes from this:...
AStopher's user avatar
  • 2,363
2 votes
2 answers
17k views

How do I get the Windows 8 Desktop to stop refreshing itself while I'm working?

I have an Asus touchscreen laptop with Windows 8, not RT. The best way that I can describe the problem is: when I am working on something in the desktop, the desktop/screen refreshes itself. It doesn'...
Nessa Morris's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
11k views

Changing the (Taskbar) icons in Windows 8?

I want to change the icons in my Taskbar to square tiles, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how you change icons in Windows 8. What is the easiest, snazziest way of changing the Pro (non-RT) ...
Kiwi's user avatar
  • 536
1 vote
1 answer
3k views

How do I have more than one Recycle Bin on my desktop?

I use more than one monitor for my computer. I use Windows 7. I would like to be able to place a recycle bin icon on each screen so that when I can only see the desktop on one screen I don't have to ...
meed96's user avatar
  • 2,191
1 vote
1 answer
264 views

Something just "tweaked" the quality of my desktop icons in XP

Help! I was just now using Tweak UI to change some simple settings, like the mouse wheel, some contents in the start menu, etc. I am not aware of having changed any icon settings/thumbnail quality ...
andrz_001's user avatar
  • 289
1 vote
1 answer
9k views

How can I turn off pictures in powerpoint thumbnail icons?

In windows 7 all of my powerpoint files show the title image in the icon. Is there anyway to turn this off show it just shows some default powerpoint icon. I find it hard to actually find my ppt ...
leora's user avatar
  • 6,123
1 vote
3 answers
296 views

Where is Vista storing my "deleted" desktop icon?

I've installed v1 of some software, then uninstalled it. After that I cleared all references to this software- no files in "program files" folder, no registry entries, nothing. Then I installed v2 of ...
Urbycoz's user avatar
  • 1,115
1 vote
3 answers
4k views

How can I create an icon on my Macintosh desktop that takes me to a web page?

How can I create an icon on my Macintosh desktop that takes me to a web page?
WilliamKF's user avatar
  • 7,908
1 vote
1 answer
99 views

Preserving icon cache in Windows 10?

Is it possible to preserve icon cache? It seems like after shutdown/reboot there is not any cache for icons anymore. E.g. when I turn on PC and go to programs directory that contains many many ...
Krystian Walicki's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
33k views

Windows 10 - All desktop icons shifted on the left side after startup

Today,not for the first time,after startup I had all desktop icons on the left side. Usually,they are on left,right side and on the top of the screen. Please,can someone explain to me what happened, ...
ubu16's user avatar
  • 97
1 vote
1 answer
811 views

Remove Icons from Desktop / Windows 7

New to the site so any advice would be helpful. I am on a computer where the network admin runs some script that continuously puts 2 icons on my desktop. I can delete them and then in a few minutes ...
Alex Stibich's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
554 views

How do I make a transparent desktop icon (like the Firefox icon)

I have this icon converted into a .ico When I change a desktop folder to this icon, the four outer corners are white, and not see through. An example of an icon I'm trying to replicate would be like ...
Robolisk's user avatar
  • 631
1 vote
1 answer
346 views

Windows doesn't launch the application and all installed programs had .lnk extension

If you need more details, refer my this problem All installed programs had .lnk extension automatically! Windows doesn't launch the application specifically those on windows list. When i hit windows ...
Christopher's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
702 views

Why does the vertical space between desktop icons change when I toggle the auto hide property of the taskbar?

I recently changed the auto-hide property of of my taskbar from "On" to "Off". Doing so caused all the icons on my desktop to get rearranged. The icons were rearranged in such a way as to clear out ...
Michael Riley - AKA Gunny's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
618 views

Windows Desktop icons move to other monitor every reboot [closed]

Every time I reboot my computer the desktop icons get moved to my other monitor... they are still in the same relative position, just the wrong screen. My taskbar is on the correct screen, which ...
Saebin's user avatar
  • 321
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

Move Ubuntu Desktop Icons to the right

I'm looking for a way to move the Ubuntu Desktop Icons to the right without them getting put on the left. Like in the Mac OS Format. Is this possible?
Sandeep Bansal's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
67 views

LINUX cp -r with attributes (sepecially icon)

LINUX Mint 20.04 I need this for a script that already has worked in UBUNTU but doesn't anymore in Mint. My problem: I have a directory for which I have changed the icon by simply right-clicking on it ...
Oliver Rafelsberger's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

How do I keep my desktop icons together (without empty spaces) in Windows 7?

I'm familiar with the 'Align to Grid' feature when right-clicking an empty space on the desktop- that's not what I'm asking for. I want the desktop to not allow empty spaces and 'orphan' icons. When ...
user922954's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
881 views

Windows 10 Icons Shifting after Anniversary Update

After updating to Windows 10 Education Build 15063 (The Creators Update), I have noticed that the bottom row of icons shift to the right on start up, requiring me to move them back into place by ...
Stephen's user avatar
  • 137
1 vote
1 answer
912 views

Windows 7: Desktop icons for new files are [sometimes] added in wrong position

I have 62 icons on my Windows 7 Desktop. (Only one monitor.) (Windows Classic theme.) I always enable "Auto arrange icons" and "Align icons to grid" (and never disable "Show desktop icons"). With ...
A876's user avatar
  • 241
1 vote
3 answers
3k views

Desktop icons always reset after boot

Why every time I reboot my Windows 10, the icons on the desktop are reverted on their default position? I have searched for a solution on Google but without find anything useful.
mrjimoy_05's user avatar