how do I change desktop icon text to a darker color on xp

[Cindy]

On my Windows desktop my Icons are a white font color. I changed my
wallpaper to one with a light background. My new background makes the text
really hard to read. The background is now a light gray with the fonts being
white.
How do I change the text to a darker color? The icons themselves are
fine and I do not want to touch them but it would be nice to have the text a
darker color.
Thanks in advice for any help you can give me.

 

[Jose]

  On my Windows desktop my Icons are a white font color.   I changed my
wallpaper to one with a light background.  My new background makes the text
really hard to read. The background is now a light gray with the fonts being
white.
   How do I change the text to a darker color?   The icons themselves are
fine and I do not want to touch them but it would be nice to have the text a
darker color.
  Thanks in advice for any help you can give me.

Has it ever worked properly before?
Is this a laptop?
Did something get changed and then this suddenly started happening or
did it happen gradually?
If you didn't change anything to get it this way then I would not just
start changing settings at random since no change you can recall got
it here in the first place.
Is it only on the desktop or does the screen not look right when you
run other programs? Does it look normal when it boots or are the
colors messed up there? How about if you look at some WWW page, or
your email program?
For a test of just loading the basic video drivers, try to boot in
safe mode by pressing F8, F8, F8... during the startup and choosing
safe mode. Do the colors look better (but everything bigger).
Maybe it is a bad/loose video connection or cable.
My monitor has a cable that runs from it to the output on the
motherboard. I can take the video cable off from both ends. I would
try removing the cable completely and make sure all the pins are
straight and then attach it again making sure it is secure - not just
plugged in hanging there, screw it down. If you are using a video
card, remove it and reseat it even in a different slot if possible, no
power at the time of course.
If you jiggle the cable around (especially near the ends) does it look
good or flicker while you are jiggling (the cable) for a while?
Can you try another known good computer with your monitor
temporarily?
Can you try another known good monitor with your computer temporarily?
Can you try a known good cable temporarily?
A lot of this will not be easy/possible to try if you are using a
laptop - you didn't say. If it is a laptop, it probably has a video
output you can hook to an external monitor and see what happens.
If all else fails, you might give your monitor a good whack if it is
an old CRT model. Used to fix my old TV for a while. Or just whack
it anyway.

 

[Cindy]

Jose,
Thank you for taking time to write but......you are making this really
complicated!!!! This is a desktop computer.
I had a picture on my desktop and I changed it to a different picture.
Nothing hard about that. The picture I put on has a gray background, the
picture I took off had a dark background. As I mentioned it is now hard
to see the white fonts below the icons.
All I want to do is change the white font color to maybe a black color.
Cindy

On my Windows desktop my Icons are a white font color. I changed my
wallpaper to one with a light background. My new background makes the text
really hard to read. The background is now a light gray with the fonts
being
white.
How do I change the text to a darker color? The icons themselves are
fine and I do not want to touch them but it would be nice to have the text
a
darker color.
Thanks in advice for any help you can give me.

Has it ever worked properly before?
Is this a laptop?
Did something get changed and then this suddenly started happening or
did it happen gradually?
If you didn't change anything to get it this way then I would not just
start changing settings at random since no change you can recall got
it here in the first place.
Is it only on the desktop or does the screen not look right when you
run other programs? Does it look normal when it boots or are the
colors messed up there? How about if you look at some WWW page, or
your email program?
For a test of just loading the basic video drivers, try to boot in
safe mode by pressing F8, F8, F8... during the startup and choosing
safe mode. Do the colors look better (but everything bigger).
Maybe it is a bad/loose video connection or cable.
My monitor has a cable that runs from it to the output on the
motherboard. I can take the video cable off from both ends. I would
try removing the cable completely and make sure all the pins are
straight and then attach it again making sure it is secure - not just
plugged in hanging there, screw it down. If you are using a video
card, remove it and reseat it even in a different slot if possible, no
power at the time of course.
If you jiggle the cable around (especially near the ends) does it look
good or flicker while you are jiggling (the cable) for a while?
Can you try another known good computer with your monitor
temporarily?
Can you try another known good monitor with your computer temporarily?
Can you try a known good cable temporarily?
A lot of this will not be easy/possible to try if you are using a
laptop - you didn't say. If it is a laptop, it probably has a video
output you can hook to an external monitor and see what happens.
If all else fails, you might give your monitor a good whack if it is
an old CRT model. Used to fix my old TV for a while. Or just whack
it anyway.

 

[Jose]

Has it ever worked properly before?
Is this a laptop?
Did something get changed and then this suddenly started happening or
did it happen gradually?
If you didn't change anything to get it this way then I would not just
start changing settings at random since no change you can recall got
it here in the first place.
Is it only on the desktop or does the screen not look right when you
run other programs?  Does it look normal when it boots or are the
colors messed up there?  How about if you look at some WWW page, or
your email program?
For a test of just loading the basic video drivers, try to boot in
safe mode by pressing F8, F8, F8... during the startup and choosing
safe mode. Do the colors look better (but everything bigger).
Maybe it is a bad/loose video connection or cable.
My monitor has a cable that runs from it to the output on the
motherboard.  I can take the video cable off from both ends.  I would
try removing the cable completely and make sure all the pins are
straight and then attach it again making sure it is secure - not just
plugged in hanging there, screw it down.  If you are using a video
card, remove it and reseat it even in a different slot if possible, no
power at the time of course.
If you jiggle the cable around (especially near the ends) does it look
good or flicker while you are jiggling (the cable) for a while?
Can you try another known good computer with your monitor
temporarily?
Can you try another known good monitor with your computer temporarily?
Can you try a known good cable temporarily?
A lot of this will not be easy/possible to try if you are using a
laptop - you didn't say.  If it is a laptop, it probably has a video
output you can hook to an external monitor and see what happens.
If all else fails, you might give your monitor a good whack if it is
an old CRT model.  Used to fix my old TV for a while.  Or just whack
it anyway.

Yes, that is what I do.

I changed my desktop background to a light one built in with Windows
and think I see what you mean. I just use the boring default no
background myself.

If you use google for this text: desktop icon font color

You will find some posts with ideas. Some of the first ones I looked
at look promising but I don't feel like messing around with my stuff.
If you make changes, write down what your change before you apply it
in case you hate it or something become unreadable.

Somebody in one post got all excited about something called ICONID
which is here: http://www.sillysot.com/

It looks like you may not be able to change the color of the words of
the icon description from white to some other color (easily), but you
can change the background of the little box surrounding the words
under the icon. The letters in the words are still white, but maybe
easier to read with a different background.

Have fun reading/experimenting. Let us know how it works out and what
you did.

If you read the google messages, there may be a way to change the
words from white to something else or change everything to something
you like.

 

[ju.c]

Use this...

Change Desktop Icon Text Color or Make the Text Transparent
TransIco.zip 8 KB (Freeware)
Info: http://www.freevbcode.com/ShowCode.asp?ID=1578
Download: http://www.freevbcode.com/code/TransIco.zip

"This mini-application allows you to change the text color of
icons on the desktop or make this text transparent. The
transparency effect is most noticeable if you have a background
pattern or bitmap on your desktop. Includes the complete source
code and a compiled EXE for those who don't wanna bother with
it. Read the HowTo.txt for usage information."


ju.c