Question about icons on desktop

[Atreju]

I fear the simple answer is "absolutely not" but I'm hoping there's a
way: Can I make my windows XP desktop icons display at the gargantuan
size that Vista does? I just reverted to XP after encountering my
first few debilitating incompatibilities. One thing I really did like
was the giant icons. I have high-res icon files, I just don't know if
there's any way via registry hack or anything, to make XP display
desktop icons that large.

Please, someone gimme some good news?

TY

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I fear the simple answer is "absolutely not" but I'm hoping there's
a way: Can I make my windows XP desktop icons display at the
gargantuan size that Vista does? I just reverted to XP after
encountering my first few debilitating incompatibilities. One thing
I really did like was the giant icons. I have high-res icon files,
I just don't know if there's any way via registry hack or anything,
to make XP display desktop icons that large.

Please, someone gimme some good news?

Trust in your ability to ask a question...

Search using Google!
http://www.google.com/
(How-to: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html )

Example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+change+the+icon+size+in+Windows+XP

One of the first hits:
http://www.entity.cc/how-to-icons.php#size

However - with minimal tweaking:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...w+to+change+desktop+icon+size+in+"Windows+XP"
("Windows XP" now in quotes and the word "the" replaced with "desktop" based
off looking over the previous results and knowing what I wanted.)

One of the first hits:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310543

You can make the icons ridiculously small or ridiculously large.

My suggestion - get a 24" widescreen monitor... Cannot afford that? Get a
22" widescreen monitor.
Either way - set the resolution lower than native and see if that is not
large enough. You may be surprised and not have to change anything with
mionor tweaks like this - that are easy to forget.

 

[Atreju]

Trust in your ability to ask a question...

Maybe I was a bit unclear, I am well aware of how to change the icon
size. The limit is 72 however, I am trying to get the full 256x256
icon size that Vista displays. The GIANT versions. That's what I need,
and I have done plenty of searches but nothing revealed a solution
addressing exactly what I want.

 

[Atreju]

On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:10:31 -0400, Atreju

I seem to have even found the appropriate reg key (or at least the
main one): HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics\
Name Shell Icon Size its a REG_SZ. Currently said 48, tried changing
directly in registry to 256, but when I go to Display properties -
Appearance - Advanced, and choose icon, it has maxed out at 72.

Any hacks or add-on software that'll do it?

I really find the giant icons easier on my eyes, also in addition to
this, the thumbnails becoming more integrated part of simply choosing
size of icons in explorer- that was a really terrific improvement.
Much better thumbnails than even Polyview, which I have used for
years.

I wish I could take the good elements of Vista but not have to
actually use Vista because of all the toxic waste they neglected to
remove from it

 

[Twayne]

I seem to have even found the appropriate reg key (or at least the
main one): HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics\
Name Shell Icon Size its a REG_SZ. Currently said 48, tried changing
directly in registry to 256, but when I go to Display properties -
Appearance - Advanced, and choose icon, it has maxed out at 72.

Any hacks or add-on software that'll do it?

I really find the giant icons easier on my eyes, also in addition to
this, the thumbnails becoming more integrated part of simply choosing
size of icons in explorer- that was a really terrific improvement.
Much better thumbnails than even Polyview, which I have used for
years.

I wish I could take the good elements of Vista but not have to
actually use Vista because of all the toxic waste they neglected to
remove from it

Did you actually look at Shanan's suggestions? Unless you have some
specific, differewnt situation that should cover it, it seems; they're
pretty inclusive.

What physical size, given as % of screen real estate, do you wish the
icons to be?
What is your current screen resolution?
Can you modify your screen resolution or do you have an LCD monitor or
what?
Are you using multiple monitors?
What is the dpi setting of your monitor? (cpanel; display)

WHICH icons do you wish this applied to? All? Desktop Only? Menues?
Taskbar? etc? The sizes you're talking about sound almost unusable to
most people; are you visually impaired? There may be other things
available to you. Magnifiers is one option.

With icons as large as you seem to want, how do you see the whole
screen? Something just isn't understandable here because what you say
seems to indicate you want icons a lot larger than VISTA would provide.
Something is being lost in the discriptions.

HTH

Twayne


More details would help someone target a response better.

 

[Atreju]

Did you actually look at Shanan's suggestions? Unless you have some
specific, differewnt situation that should cover it, it seems; they're
pretty inclusive.

Yes I did, but you're not clear on what I want, obviously.

What physical size, given as % of screen real estate, do you wish the
icons to be?
What is your current screen resolution?
Can you modify your screen resolution or do you have an LCD monitor or
what?
Are you using multiple monitors?
What is the dpi setting of your monitor? (cpanel; display)

All irrelevant.

WHICH icons do you wish this applied to? All? Desktop Only? Menues?
Taskbar? etc? The sizes you're talking about sound almost unusable to
most people; are you visually impaired? There may be other things
available to you. Magnifiers is one option.

Desktop only and no, I don't need a magnifier, I'm not visually
impaired.


I'm running 22" widescree monitors (2), and yes, in Vista if you
choose the view Large Icons from the context menu on the desktop, they
are MUCH larger than the largest it gets in XP.

You should compare the two, you obviously have not seen the max that
they both can get. I tried with the Vista icon files but it does not
work. They display but much smaller than on Vista... either it will
shrink a larger frame, or if the ico file is multi-frame, then it just
uses the highest res that XP was designed for.

The latest ico format supports up to 256x256 pixel size icons, and
those are even stretched in Vista. In XP it simply does not support
displaying that frame in the ico file.

Trust me, I've compared and contrasted all that I can. It was never
designed as part of XP to display the icons so huge (except like you
say by using magnifier, but that isn't what I'm talking about). I'm
referring to very high-resolution ico frames.

Also, if anything I've mentioned regarding icon frames and resolutions
are terms you don't quite understand what I mean by, then you probably
don't really have any answers for me, but I thank you for trying.

With icons as large as you seem to want, how do you see the whole
screen?

With 2 22" widescreens I manage just hunky-dory thanks.

Something just isn't understandable here because what you say
seems to indicate you want icons a lot larger than VISTA would provide.
Something is being lost in the discriptions.

No I ideally would like XP's desktop to display the icons exactly as
large as the largest that Vista displays. YOu may not have ever
noticed how to increase the icon files in Vista. Right-click on
desktop and choose View-Large Icons. They are actually visually VERY
pleasant and easier to deal with. I am not the type of person who
floods his screen with a hundred icons or dumps all my documents and
downloads. I have around 50 icons the dt at any given time, give or
take a few. The really large Vista style display was much much easier
on the eyes than the highest that XP can go.