Simple Problem

[Nathan Widmyer]

I've searched all over this computer and I can't find the solution. The
desktop icons, the text to them is too big because the icons are regular
size. The icons are also too close together, the text of one icon is
overlapping the one next to it. How can I reduce the text size and space
the icons out some because they are still too close together if the font
size is reduced. Thanks, Nate.

 

[Guest]

----- Nathan Widmyer wrote: -----

I've searched all over this computer and I can't find the solution. The
desktop icons, the text to them is too big because the icons are regular
size. The icons are also too close together, the text of one icon is
overlapping the one next to it. How can I reduce the text size and space
the icons out some because they are still too close together if the font
size is reduced. Thanks, Nate.

Right click on a blank area of the desktop and select Properties. This will open your display properties. Go to the Appearance tab and click the Advanced button. In the drop list of items select Icon and set the font and size you want. You can also select Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and Icon Space (Vertical) to increase/decrease the space between icons.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Smart Display
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.

 

[Nathan Widmyer]

I did that and it did improve upon it to a point. When I hit enter a number
past 32 (for both horizontal and vertical), it doesn't increase the distance
of the actual icon anymore.

----- Nathan Widmyer wrote: -----

I've searched all over this computer and I can't find the solution. The
desktop icons, the text to them is too big because the icons are regular
size. The icons are also too close together, the text of one icon is
overlapping the one next to it. How can I reduce the text size and space
the icons out some because they are still too close together if the font
size is reduced. Thanks, Nate.

Right click on a blank area of the desktop and select Properties. This

will open your display properties. Go to the Appearance tab and click the
Advanced button. In the drop list of items select Icon and set the font and
size you want. You can also select Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and Icon Space
(Vertical) to increase/decrease the space between icons.

 

[Chuck]

I've searched all over this computer and I can't find the solution. The
desktop icons, the text to them is too big because the icons are regular
size. The icons are also too close together, the text of one icon is
overlapping the one next to it. How can I reduce the text size and space
the icons out some because they are still too close together if the font
size is reduced. Thanks, Nate.

Nate,

In Control Panel - Display Properties - Appearance, you have the Font
size setting (normal - large - extra large). And under Effects, you
can select (or not) to "Use large icons".

To adjust the icon spacing, you need to go into the registry. In key
"HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop", you can add or change values IconSpacing
(default 131 for small icons, 147 for large) to adjust horizontal
spacing, and IconVerticalSpacing (default 75 for small icons, 91 for
large).

As always, editing the registry should be done with great care and
reverence for its power (ability to bork your system).

BTW, posting messages with your email address in clear text is not a
good idea. I manually munged your address (preventing it from being
archived in Google for eternity) in this reply, but you would be
better off doing that yourself in your newsreader.
http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/mungfaq.html

Cheers,

Chuck
I hate spam - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Nathan Widmyer]

I checked the registry and under "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" and those keys
don't exist, however I clicked on "WindowMetrics" in the tree under that
location and there are those entries but they are set at "-1440" (yes,
negative). Is this the wrong place because it's different than what you
specified (your location was up a step in the tree), or is this value just
very wrong?

 

[Chuck]

I checked the registry and under "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" and those keys
don't exist, however I clicked on "WindowMetrics" in the tree under that
location and there are those entries but they are set at "-1440" (yes,
negative). Is this the wrong place because it's different than what you
specified (your location was up a step in the tree), or is this value just
very wrong?

Nate,

I wonder the Windows Metrics key is for. I have it too, but with
different values. You have to add these Values to the Desktop root
key though if you want to change the default spacings, they normally
aren't there. I wouldn't change anything in WM IIWY.

Cheers,

Chuck
I hate spam - PLEASE get rid of the spam before emailing me!
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Battleax]

I did that and it did improve upon it to a point. When I hit enter a number
past 32 (for both horizontal and vertical), it doesn't increase the distance
of the actual icon anymore.

After setting horizontal spacing right click on the desktop - Arrange icons
By - uncheck Align to grid, now go back and recheck Align to grid.
B