In message <OX9qPld$(E-Mail Removed)>, Doug Knox MS-MVP
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance. On the Visual Effects tab,
>put the check mark in Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.
>Note: If you have any Active web content enabled on your Desktop, this
>feature will not work. Right click the Desktop, select Properties, Desktop,
>Customize Desktop and go to the Web tab.

I've had a somewhat more complex problem today that I have been unable
to fix from either Doug Knox / Kelly's Korner web sites.

I temporarily had to disable graphics hardware acceleration. After
re-enabling, I noticed that my desktop icons were no longer transparent.
I checked all the settings as indicated above and with Display> Desktop>
Customize Desktop> Web. But nothing fixed the problem.

With a registry hack I restored transparency by disabling Active
Desktop.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer] NoActiveDesktop = 1

After some experimentation I think the root problem is that my XP Home
sp2 now only recognises .bmp file types as appropriate for wallpaper.

I've tried restoring default file associations from the:

xp_jpg_jpe_jpeg_file_assoc_fix.reg

file on Doug's site. But this resulted in some odd behaviour. 'Edit'
opens JP* files in either Paint or MS Photo Editor. But 'open' either
does nothing or delivers an 'only valid for products that are currently
installed' error.

As I'd prefer not to have to do a repair installation if I could avoid
it are there any further suggestions that may be appropriate?


>"PAO" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:047d01c2fdaf$e0291c90$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi, I have been running XP Prof for several months. One
>> thing I liked when it was installed was that icons
>> appearing on the desktop had transparent backgrounds.
>> This has stayed the same no matter how many times I
>> turned off/on my computer. Except today. I turned it
>> off and then back on and the icon backgrounds are the
>> same as the Desktop. I have searched many hours today and
>> can't find any reference to this problem. Any
>> suggestions? Thanks very much in advance.

Cheers,
--
Neale Hind
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Neale D. Hind
<nospam@127.0.0.1> writes
>In message <OX9qPld$(E-Mail Removed)>, Doug Knox MS-MVP
><(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance. On the Visual Effects tab,
>>put the check mark in Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.
>>Note: If you have any Active web content enabled on your Desktop, this
>>feature will not work. Right click the Desktop, select Properties, Desktop,
>>Customize Desktop and go to the Web tab.
>
>I've had a somewhat more complex problem today that I have been unable
>to fix from either Doug Knox / Kelly's Korner web sites.

Perseverance pays. The following registry entry reinstates jpg's as
valid wallpaper files:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Act
iveDesktop]
"NoHTMLWallpaper"=dword:00000000

>I temporarily had to disable graphics hardware acceleration. After
>re-enabling, I noticed that my desktop icons were no longer
>transparent. I checked all the settings as indicated above and with
>Display> Desktop> Customize Desktop> Web. But nothing fixed the problem.
>
>With a registry hack I restored transparency by disabling Active
>Desktop.
>
>[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
>Explorer] NoActiveDesktop = 1
>
>After some experimentation I think the root problem is that my XP Home
>sp2 now only recognises .bmp file types as appropriate for wallpaper.
>
>I've tried restoring default file associations from the:
>
>xp_jpg_jpe_jpeg_file_assoc_fix.reg
>
>file on Doug's site. But this resulted in some odd behaviour. 'Edit'
>opens JP* files in either Paint or MS Photo Editor. But 'open' either
>does nothing or delivers an 'only valid for products that are currently
>installed' error.
>
>As I'd prefer not to have to do a repair installation if I could avoid
>it are there any further suggestions that may be appropriate?
>
>
>>"PAO" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:047d01c2fdaf$e0291c90$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Hi, I have been running XP Prof for several months. One
>>> thing I liked when it was installed was that icons
>>> appearing on the desktop had transparent backgrounds.
>>> This has stayed the same no matter how many times I
>>> turned off/on my computer. Except today. I turned it
>>> off and then back on and the icon backgrounds are the
>>> same as the Desktop. I have searched many hours today and
>>> can't find any reference to this problem. Any
>>> suggestions? Thanks very much in advance.
>
>Cheers,

--
Neale Hind
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children