Desktop Icon background

thanks. I really messed something up earlier and lost the transparency and
didn't know why. I didn't know that I had a web page set up as the desktop,
so followed these directions and got it right again.

"Malke" wrote:

> Billy10hats wrote:
> > Hi everybody, i have a skight problem with the backgroung colour on
> > my desktop shortcut icons. They all seem to be white text on blue
> > background!!,is is there anyway that i can change these to be black on
> > translucent background,
> > i think this is the default ?
>
> You can't natively change the color of the icon text - it will be white
> or black depending on your background. For the transparency:
>
> Open the System applet in Control Panel, choose the Advanced tab, and
> click Settings in the Performance section. Turn on the "Use drop shadows
> for icon labels on the desktop option", and click Ok.
>
> Four things are required for transparent icon backgrounds:
>
> 1) System Properties>Advanced>Performance Settings>VisualEffects - check
> "use drop shadows for icon labels".
> 2) Right-click on Desktop ->Arrange Icons by>Lock Web items must be cleared.
> 3) If you have any web content on your desktop, transparency won't work.
> To check for web content: Display Properties>Desktop>Customize
> Desktop>Web - make sure all checkboxes are clear.
> 4) Wallpaper must be an image file, not html.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>
 >> Stay informed about: Desktop Icon background 

"Malke" wrote:

> Billy10hats wrote:
> > Hi everybody, i have a skight problem with the backgroung colour on
> > my desktop shortcut icons. They all seem to be white text on blue
> > background!!,is is there anyway that i can change these to be black on
> > translucent background,
> > i think this is the default ?
>
> You can't natively change the color of the icon text - it will be white
> or black depending on your background. For the transparency:
>
> Open the System applet in Control Panel, choose the Advanced tab, and
> click Settings in the Performance section. Turn on the "Use drop shadows
> for icon labels on the desktop option", and click Ok.
>
> Four things are required for transparent icon backgrounds:
>
> 1) System Properties>Advanced>Performance Settings>VisualEffects - check
> "use drop shadows for icon labels".
> 2) Right-click on Desktop ->Arrange Icons by>Lock Web items must be cleared.
> 3) If you have any web content on your desktop, transparency won't work.
> To check for web content: Display Properties>Desktop>Customize
> Desktop>Web - make sure all checkboxes are clear.
> 4) Wallpaper must be an image file, not html.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>
 >> Stay informed about: Desktop Icon background 

"Malke" wrote:

> Billy10hats wrote:
> > Hi everybody, i have a skight problem with the backgroung colour on
> > my desktop shortcut icons. They all seem to be white text on blue
> > background!!,is is there anyway that i can change these to be black on
> > translucent background,
> > i think this is the default ?
>
> You can't natively change the color of the icon text - it will be white
> or black depending on your background. For the transparency:
>
> Open the System applet in Control Panel, choose the Advanced tab, and
> click Settings in the Performance section. Turn on the "Use drop shadows
> for icon labels on the desktop option", and click Ok.
>
> Four things are required for transparent icon backgrounds:
>
> 1) System Properties>Advanced>Performance Settings>VisualEffects - check
> "use drop shadows for icon labels".
> 2) Right-click on Desktop ->Arrange Icons by>Lock Web items must be cleared.
> 3) If you have any web content on your desktop, transparency won't work.
> To check for web content: Display Properties>Desktop>Customize
> Desktop>Web - make sure all checkboxes are clear.
> 4) Wallpaper must be an image file, not html.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
> Malke,



I recently acquired this same problem after a Malware infection and it's
removal. At first, the desktop wallpaper picture was gone and re-instating it
was inhibited in the display settings. After disabling the desktop wallpaper
inhibition using gpedit, my wallpaper came back, but he icon text backgrounds
are blue rather than transparent. I followed your instructions, but the icon
text background remains blue - can't get it transparent. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 >> Stay informed about: Desktop Icon background 

I saw this problem recently on 2 WinXP systems and fixed with following steps.

Click Start
Right-Click My Computer
Click Properties
Click the Advanced tab
Click Settings in the Performance setting
Click Custom on the Visual Effects tab
Uncheck all boxes except Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop ... This is the opposite of what you'd expect, turn on the option to get rid of it!
Click OK twice

P.S I found a post on another site that says the cause is that the user profile Local Settings Desktop.ini file is corrupt and the contents should be cleared. I haven't tried that.
 >> Stay informed about: Desktop Icon background 

Cary Simms wrote:

> I saw this problem recently on 2 WinXP systems and fixed with following
> steps.
>
> Click Start
> Right-Click My Computer
> Click Properties
> Click the Advanced tab
> Click Settings in the Performance setting
> Click Custom on the Visual Effects tab
> Uncheck all boxes except Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
> ... This is the opposite of what you'd expect, turn on the option to get
> rid of it! Click OK twice
>
> P.S I found a post on another site that says the cause is that the user
> profile Local Settings Desktop.ini file is corrupt and the contents should
> be cleared. I haven't tried that.

Thanks for the information, but no one knows to whom you are giving this
information since you are not posting on a real forum as you think you are
and you didn't quote any of the thread to which you are replying. You are
using a web interface that leeches Usenet posts and most of the rest of us
are using real newsreaders. We don't see what you do. If you want to
participate in Usenet, the better way is to set up a newsreader. This is
very easy to do and I'll give you information about that below. If you
prefer to use a forum, then here are two excellent ones:

http://forum.aumha.org/index.php
http://http://computerhaven.info/

Since you are using a web interface, you may not realize that this is really
a newsgroup. You will get far more out of this resource if you learn to use
a newsreader. There are many good newsreaders for Windows, but you can use
Outlook Express (XP) or Windows Mail (Vista) since you already have it.
Here are some links to information about newsgroups:

About Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ - Usenet FAQs from the Internet FAQ Archives
http://www.usenetmonster.com/infocenter/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet - a brief explanation
of newsgroups

Outlook Express/Windows Mail as Newsreader:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/accessing_newsgrousp_with-windows_mail.htm

How to Post:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question
http://users.tpg.com.au/bzyhjr/liszt.htm - How Not to Get Technical Help on
Usenet
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://aumha.org/nntp.htm - list of MS newsgroups
microsoft.public.test.here - MS group to test if your newsreader is working
properly
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/munad.htm - how to munge email address
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting - crossposting
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm - multiposting

Other Newsreaders for Windows:
http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php - Forte
http://www.mozilla.org - Thunderbird

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
 >> Stay informed about: Desktop Icon background