Desktop icon text transparency (XP Pro)

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I was working on a client’s Win XP Pro SP-2 PC today and noticed that the text under the Desktop icons was not transparent. All the text had a colored rectangular box instead. I checked in the Display Properties …… Effects and the item: “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop” was already enabled, which usually is the setting needed to get the transparency expected. So, what else can I check or do to resolve this problem so that the background is transparent again? I also noticed that the icons suffer from the proverbial “jaggies”. I also checked to be sure that the icon size was not altered. But I’m not sure if I was checking in the right place.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jeff

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I don’t know if you meant display properties or My Computer properties Jeff, but take a look at post 509,919 to see if either of those two hints helps. One of the two helped the OP of that thread, but I’m not sure which since he replied to himself…

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Try right clicking the desktop and then arrange icons by and then unchecking Lock web items on desktop.

Paul

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My Computer / Properties / Advanced / settings

Jeff

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Thanks all….. when I return to the office this morning, I’ll give these suggestions a try. Of course, I would prefer to use the native options (unchecking/checking) to fix the problem, but I have also downloaded a copy of Iconoid and will install that little application should everything else fail. I’ll report back with the results.

Jeff

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By the way, if unlocking the items on the desktop does not work try turning off active desktop (if it is enabled):
Right click desktop
Properties
Desktop
Customize desktop
Web tab
Uncheck any web pages present

Paul

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Thanks to all who offered help in resolving this problem. The issue is fixed.

What worked on the problem PC was unchecking the item, “Align to Grid”….. which admittedly baffles me because I have seen that option enabled on countless machines and none have had this issue.

Jeff

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That IS weird, Jeff, but I’m glad you got it resolved. I was gonna answer Paul’s post by saying that I use “active desktop” to put pictures on my screen and it has not interfered with the transparency of the icon text. That’s obviously moot now.

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Al,
As your experience and Jeff’s are different than mine I’ve got to conclude that this little icon text transparency issue is a bit more complicated than a single setting somewhere.
The transparency seems to be controlled by several inputs and not just one. So depending on which controls one has checked the text background may or may not be visible.

First, and I know this is very obvious, but, the background color for the icon text must be set different from the desktop color in order for the lack of transparency to be seen. Thus in experimenting it helps to have some image as wallpaper instead of a solid color. The most commonly referred way to make the icon text background transparent is to:
Open the Control Panel
Click System
Click Advanced tab
Click Performance settings
Check “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”
OK click your way out

While that should do it I have found that if you then “lock web items on your desktop” your icon text background is no longer transparent. This locking can be done in two ways I know of:
Right click desktop
Click “arrange icons by”
Click “Lock web items on desktop”

OR
Right click desktop
Click Properties
Click Desktop
Click customize desktop
Click the web tab
Click lock desktop items

These are equivalent actions as far as I can tell. While you are looking at Web tab information in the Desktop Items window (the last step in the above procedure) I found that having ANY of the webpages listed there checked , that is, enabling active desktop, will also eliminate the transparent background of the icon text. I would infer then that any other action that turns on active desktop may produce the same result, though I have not played with that. The most obvious of these would be a registry setting.

So on my systems the “use drop shadows” is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for transparency. I also must have the “lock web items on desktop” AND web pages on the desktop unchecked.
I would be interested in knowing what effect these setting have on your computer. My results are for XP-Pro and XP-home.

Paul

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My icon text is transparent and I can’t get it to NOT be so with any of the things you mentioned! I have a solid color background, rather than wallpaper because I do use the desktop for so-called web items i.e. pictures as you can see below. I’ve tried locking, align to grid and toggling on or off doesn’t change the transparency (mine are normally not locked and align to grid is on so I can straighten out the two columns of icons you see). I dunno whassup…

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Al,

Given that you have a solid color desktop background, what is the color of your icon text background?

Paul

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Heh, heh I knew you were gonna ask that and I can’t find the place where you select the color for icon text, let alone its background. Can you steer me, please?

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Right click desktop, properties, desktop, color.
You can also, I think, just drag an icon over your photograph and drop it there. If the background is not transparent you will see the color. If you do that and it is transparent, then check the lock the icons to the desktop and see it it remains so.

Paul

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Sorry I’m just getting around to a post, Paul. Ya know, I don’t think (my) desktop icons are “really” transparent after all, but I’m gonna stop now, for this isn’t worth too much more effort for naught. It’s no wonder I couldn’t find icon text background color, for as your reference points out, that’s desktop color, not necessarily icon text background. But wait a sec, Big Al, mebbe it IS after all. Here’s the things I did. I changed my desktop color to something else (see attachment) – a bright green just for the heck of it. Well, the icon background seems to still be transparent, for it became a bright green also. However, if I do what you suggested and drag an icon over on top of the graphic with the white background, lo and behold the icon text background is still green. I put it back and changed my desktop background to a standard Windows wallpaper and all the desktop icons still show up with green backgrounds. So, the conclusion in MY case is that I don’t think those dudes are really transparent at all, they just seem that way because of the common color with the desktop background.

I suppose I could fiddle some more with turning off active desktop, locking icons and so on, but I’m not gonna bother with it for now anyway.

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Al,

Here are two images of my Recycle bin, against a background that has two shades of blue. In the first image it is selected and you can clearly see the desktop background colour, in the second image it is no longer selected and the background certainly seems transparent to me.

StuartR

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Oooh, this is SUCH a complex subject, I’m getting a headache!

Well, I “think” you’re right, Stuart, but I’m not sure of anything anymore! As you can see from THIS attachment, the Advanced tab of Display Properties has my color for Selected Items in a shade of blue. So, I don’t know what to make of it…

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Al

Again go to your Appearance Tab and you should see the Colorsic Scheme set as (Default) Blue. This is the colour that will appear under the icon when it is one click selected. In XP there are three options, blue, silver and green, these are your options and no custom palette that I can see, I am afraid you are stuck with it

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Au contraire, sir. In the Advanced Tab of Screen Properties, I can select some other color for Selected Items as you can see from the attachment, where I’ve used the same color as my Desktop Background. So, we’re not stuck with the limitations of the default color scheme as you surmised. In the attached screenshot, my Recycle Bin is again the selected item and you can see it has the same color background as my Desktop Background. Whew!

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Ahah Well spotted, I didn’t see that on the drop down first time

I don’t think I like it though as I like to see if anything is highlighted especially if I am deleting. Personal preference I know but I use the desktop very much like a real desk. I place a file on it, work on it and then file or bin as required, so a contrast is good for me.

Mine is definitely not as regimented and orderly as yours old soldier

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I do agree with you – I like to make SURE I know what’s highlighted or has focus, so I’m headed back to screen properties now to change that item back to a contrasting color.

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Al,

I agree with you that this issue deserves no more of your time as your setup has no problem. Others who have an image for their wall paper, in particular a stretched image so it fills the screen, have to deal with this issue of icon text background transparency. For them the best I can offer is what I posted above, and this is surely incomplete. I doubt I will look into this any more for reasons similar to yours, I’ve solved it for my set up. So my story, and I’m sticking to it till someone educates me differently , is that:

The background for the icon text can be in one of three states
1. The desktop color if None is selected for the wallpaper (Background) – appears transparent even if not
2. The Appearance color when the icon is single clicked or selected
3. Transparent if “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop” is selected and is independent of wallpaper choice. This can be negated by “Lock web items on desktop” or turning ON active desktop by any means.

Paul

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And a hearty: Ever Onward! Only You and I know…

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Jeff,
Glad your problem is fixed and your solution baffles me as well as since that setting has no effect on the transparency issue on my computers.

Paul

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