Text background below a desktop icons

[Guest]

Could you help me please somebody?
I had a spyware on my PC several weeks ago. From that time I cannot restore
a desktop icons. The text background below the icons are not transparent as
were originally. I have tryed a lot of ways but....nothing helped me.

 

[Tony Luxton]

Go to System Properties (either in Control Panel or by right-clicking My
Computer and selecting Properties). Select the Advanced tab. Under
Performance, click Settings. In the scroll-down box, put a checkmark next to
"Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop". Click OK or Apply.

HTH

Tony.

 

[Malke]

Could you help me please somebody?
I had a spyware on my PC several weeks ago. From that time I cannot
restore a desktop icons. The text background below the icons are not
transparent as were originally. I have tryed a lot of ways
but....nothing helped me.

Is the Desktop under your control now? Go to the Display applet in
Control Panel and look on the Desktop tab. Click on Customize Desktop,
and then click on the Web tab. You will see that there are checkboxes
next to "My Current Home Page" and probably "Lock Desktop Items".
Uncheck these.

If you can't enable desktop backgrounds after a virus, MVP Kelly Theriot
has a fix. Look under Wallpaper-Desktop-Disable Changing here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_w.htm

Otherwise, open the System applet in Control Panel, choose the Advanced
tab, and click Settings in the Performance section. Turn on the "Use
drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop option", and click Ok.

Four things are required for transparent icon backgrounds:

1) System Properties>Advanced>Performance Settings>VisualEffects - check
"use drop shadows for icon labels".

2) Right-click on Desktop ->Arrange Icons by>Lock Web items must be
cleared.

3) If you have any web content on your desktop, transparency won't work.
To check for web content: Display Properties>Desktop>Customize
Desktop>Web - make sure all checkboxes are clear.

4) Wallpaper must be an image file, not html.

Malke

 

[Talahasee]

Could you help me please somebody?
I had a spyware on my PC several weeks ago. From that time I cannot restore
a desktop icons. The text background below the icons are not transparent as
were originally. I have tryed a lot of ways but....nothing helped me.

I have found over the years that the EASIEST way to
"restore" such functions, "when all else fails", is to back
up all your critical data, (like onto an external hdd), and
then fdkisk, format, and reinstall.


Good luck!

Tallahassee

 

[Malke]

Talahasee wrote:

I have found over the years that the EASIEST way to
"restore" such functions, "when all else fails", is to back
up all your critical data, (like onto an external hdd), and
then fdkisk, format, and reinstall.

This is absolute crap. Based on your other posts, you have serious
problems with your computer and your experience is not the norm. Unlike
earlier MS operating systems, a clean install of XP is the last resort
and is hardly ever necessary. BTW, you don't use fdisk if you are going
to install XP.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have found over the years that the EASIEST way to
"restore" such functions, "when all else fails", is to back
up all your critical data, (like onto an external hdd), and
then fdkisk, format, and reinstall.

Terrible advice. In the vast majority of cases, this is way overkill, and
the worst possible thing you can do.

It leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to restore
all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your programs, you have to
reinstall all the Windows and application updates,you have to locate and
install all the needed drivers for your system, you have to recustomize
Windows and all your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may have
trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can you
find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore?
Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have
installed to make everything work the way you like? Occasionally there are
problems that are so difficult to solve that Windows should be reinstalled
cleanly. But they are few and far between; reinstallation should not be a
substitute for troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have
failed.

 

[Bob I]

I think (based on Talahasee's previous posts) he's just moved to XP from
the DOS versions, and so that WAS the way to fix the Win9x stuff.

 

[Guest]

Hi Malke,

I tried all your suggestions sooner and now (all settings are right) and
also Kellys script but there is no change of icons on my desktop. Before now
I had the same problem and repairing was easy but I do not remember it.

 

[Guest]

Hi Malke,

Did I understand well that there is only one feasibility to reinstall
operating system?

 

[Guest]

Hi everybody,

I was on a business trip and today I have read all your suggestions. Thank
you for your assistance but nothing solved my problem. I agree with Ken that
reinstallation of Win XP Prof is the last resort which needs a lot of job and
time.
I believe in some expert will find some solution.

 

[SimonRB]

have you tried an inplace repair?

Hi Malke,

I tried all your suggestions sooner and now (all settings are right) and
also Kellys script but there is no change of icons on my desktop. Before
now
I had the same problem and repairing was easy but I do not remember it.

 

[Malke]

Hi everybody,

I was on a business trip and today I have read all your suggestions.
Thank you for your assistance but nothing solved my problem. I agree
with Ken that reinstallation of Win XP Prof is the last resort which
needs a lot of job and time.
I believe in some expert will find some solution.

If we go back to your original post, you said you had "a spyware" on
your computer. From your issues, I suspect it was a variant of the
Smitfraud malware. Perhaps your computer isn't completely clean. Try
going through these steps:

Perform preliminary cleanup steps listed here:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Then continue as follows:

Part 1 - Run noahdfear's SmitFraud and SpyAxe removal tool -
http://noahdfear.geekstogo.com/click counter/click.php?id=8

Part 2 - Run David Lipman's tool -
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/SmitFraud.exe

David's Instructions:
Execute SmitFraud.exe (Note: You must accept the default of C:\McAfee)
Choose Unzip
Choose Close

NOTE: You may have to disable your software firewall or allow WGET.EXE
to go through your firewall to enable WGET.EXE to download the needed
McAfee-related files.

Execute c:\mcafee\clean.bat (or Double-click on 'Clean Link' in c
\mcafee)

A final report in HTML format called C:\mcafee\ScanReport.HTML will be
generated. At the end of the scan, it will be displayed in your browser
(Opera, FireFox or Internet Explorer). It is suggested that you move
the report out of c:\mcafee before performing another scan.

Part 3 - Go through the malware removal steps here:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
(You may not need to go as far as running HijackThis).

After your computer is completely clean, see if you now have complete
control over your Desktop and are able to set the transparency per the
information I gave you earlier.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Yes, I have.
--
host

have you tried an inplace repair?

 

[Guest]

Hi Malke,

You are notable expert. I executed all control process by your sugestions
and now there is all right on my desktop. Thank you very much for your help.

 

[Malke]

Hi Malke,

You are notable expert. I executed all control process by your
sugestions and now there is all right on my desktop. Thank you very
much for your help.

Excellent! I'm glad to hear all is well and I thank you for taking the
time to let me know.

Malke

 

[coal_brona]

Hi,

to perform data backup I suppose using Disk Image tool. It is a really
useful one, as it also allows to use single files from the image of
disk or partition. The soft can be found on Active@ Boot Disk CD. This
is a set of mighty data tools that also allows to restore, erase data
etc. That is a really powerful package of utils, give it a try.


http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm

 

[Guest]

Hi Malke,
I had same problem as host but it was fixed thnx to part
(3) of your reply



"If you have any web content on your desktop, transparency won't work.

To check for web content: Display Properties>Desktop>Customize
Desktop>Web - make sure all checkboxes are clear".

Thnx alot