Desktop icons

[Don Phillipson]

Irritatingly, at reboot my desktop icons are repositioned the
way I placed them (more or less) but moved inwards by one
inch or so, as if on a smaller desktop only 80 per cent of the
actual size (LCD terminal configured 1152 x 864 pixels.)

I like to place a particular dozen icons along the bottom and
right edges of the desktop, keeping them visible when a
large window (oriented from the top left) fills 80 or 90 per
cent of desktop space. Desktop/Arrange Icons is configured with
no item selected. But after reboot these icons reappear
moved an inch or so inward from the edges, i.e. no longer appear
at the bottom and right edges of the big window I usually use.

Is there any way of preserving through reboot the preferred
location of these items close to the bottom and right edges?

 

[Tim Meddick]

This is quite a common question - and the answer is NO!

Windows (all versions but especially XP) has a habit of re-positioning
icons (i.e. forgetting your custom arrangement) at undetermined intervals.

The only way we have agreed upon to make any semi-permanent arrangement is
to re-name each desktop shortcut so that it either starts with a number or
number-letter combination so that when you select...

"right-click" > Arrange Icons By > Name

....on your desktop, the icons will be arranged in the order you want them
to be in.

Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's my best suggestion.

(Although, a google search may turn up some sort of third-party app)

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Walt]

Irritatingly, at reboot my desktop icons are repositioned the
way I placed them (more or less) but moved inwards by one
inch or so, as if on a smaller desktop only 80 per cent of the
actual size (LCD terminal configured 1152 x 864 pixels.)

I like to place a particular dozen icons along the bottom and
right edges of the desktop, keeping them visible when a
large window (oriented from the top left) fills 80 or 90 per
cent of desktop space. Desktop/Arrange Icons is configured with
no item selected. But after reboot these icons reappear
moved an inch or so inward from the edges, i.e. no longer appear
at the bottom and right edges of the big window I usually use.

Is there any way of preserving through reboot the preferred
location of these items close to the bottom and right edges?

It has been my experience that when you creat a new desktop icon and
then move it from it's original position, which will be the first
available vertical space on the left side of the screen, it will
return to that position when you restart/reset. Hovever, it will
remain where you put it if you shutdown rather than do a restart.

 

[glee]

This is quite a common question - and the answer is NO!

Windows (all versions but especially XP) has a habit of re-positioning
icons (i.e. forgetting your custom arrangement) at undetermined
intervals.

The only way we have agreed upon to make any semi-permanent
arrangement is to re-name each desktop shortcut so that it either
starts with a number or number-letter combination so that when you
select...

"right-click" > Arrange Icons By > Name

...on your desktop, the icons will be arranged in the order you want
them to be in.

Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's my best
suggestion.

(Although, a google search may turn up some sort of third-party app)

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

I have been using XP for years, and before that Win98 and Win95. I have
been supporting Windows on a large number of client computers for over
10 years, and have supported multiple computers on a network mix of
Win98, ME, XP, and Vista. NONE of the computers with any of those
versions of Windows has EVER re-positioned desktop icons at undetermined
intervals...or at any intervals. Icons have always stayed where
positioned, permanently, until manually re-positioned by a user. There
is no basis for your claim, Tim.

The only time I have seen icons re-positioned is on rare occasions after
a major system crash that causes a reboot, and then only on some Win9x
systems. Restarting in Safe Mode and then returning to normal mode has
also caused the issue on Win9x, but rarely on XP.

Icons will be re-positioned as described by Don....moving inward and/or
upward from the edges... after the computer is logged onto via Remote
Desktop from another computer, and the other computer was using a
different size monitor and/or different display resolution.

 

[glee]

It has been my experience that when you creat a new desktop icon and
then move it from it's original position, which will be the first
available vertical space on the left side of the screen, it will
return to that position when you restart/reset. Hovever, it will
remain where you put it if you shutdown rather than do a restart.

After you move the icon to the new position, press F5 to refresh the
desktop, and see if it fixes the issue on restart.

 

[Iceman]

Irritatingly, at reboot my desktop icons are repositioned the
way I placed them (more or less) but moved inwards by one
inch or so, as if on a smaller desktop only 80 per cent of the
actual size (LCD terminal configured 1152 x 864 pixels.)

I like to place a particular dozen icons along the bottom and
right edges of the desktop, keeping them visible when a
large window (oriented from the top left) fills 80 or 90 per
cent of desktop space. Desktop/Arrange Icons is configured with
no item selected. But after reboot these icons reappear
moved an inch or so inward from the edges, i.e. no longer appear
at the bottom and right edges of the big window I usually use.

Is there any way of preserving through reboot the preferred
location of these items close to the bottom and right edges?

See this page for help with icons:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_i.htm

There's also software like Icon Restore (freeware):
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/iconrestore.html

 

[Peter Foldes]

This is quite a common question - and the answer is NO!

Windows (all versions but especially XP) has a habit of re-positioning icons (i.e.
forgetting your custom arrangement) at undetermined intervals.

The only way we have agreed upon to make any semi-permanent arrangement is to
re-name each desktop shortcut so that it either starts with a number or
number-letter combination so that when you select...

"right-click" > Arrange Icons By > Name

...on your desktop, the icons will be arranged in the order you want them to be
in.

Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's my best suggestion.

Tim

I been using W95\All NT versions\98\2000\XP\2003 and never did the desktop icons
reposition itself under my watch. I have seen it change when I changed screen
resolution or Icon size but outside of that even on system crash I have not
encountered it

--
Peter
Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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[Don Phillipson]

After you move the icon to the new position, press F5 to refresh the
desktop, and see if it fixes the issue on restart.

Bingo !!
Nearly perfectly, after relocating 16 selected icons within one inch
of bottom and right edges of the desktop, F5 (Refresh) before reboot
positioned 15 out of the 16 as preferred. This is amply good enough
for everyday use. Thank you MVP.

 

[glee]

Bingo !!
Nearly perfectly, after relocating 16 selected icons within one inch
of bottom and right edges of the desktop, F5 (Refresh) before reboot
positioned 15 out of the 16 as preferred. This is amply good enough
for everyday use. Thank you MVP.

Good news, Don....let's hope it sticks for a while! ;-)