How to remove the background colors from Desktop items in Windows XP
My mom recently encountered an issue with her computer, and as these things go, she called me for help.
Her problem was simple: The text of desktop icons had background colors that didn’t match the background image on her desktop. She simply wanted to get rid of the background colors on the desktop icons.
It would seem that the solution must be an easy one, but it actually isn’t.
Below I’ve summarized the steps you can try to fix this issue, in an
easy-to-follow format. Print this page and refer to it as you
troubleshoot.
It looks like this issue can be caused by a handful of different things. The best bet is to try the solutions listed below, in order. In other words, try A., view results, if it is not fixed, try B, and so on.
The following instructions should all be pretty self-explanatory and harmless, even for a beginner. I suspect it should take no more than 15 minutes to try all the steps.
**PROBLEM**
“I’m running XP Professional (SP2) on my home computer. All my desktop icons show the background color behind each icon’s name. I want to get rid of that. I know it can be done, because my computer at work has the same OS and the desktop icons are all “clear”. I did some checking in the desktop properties, but I’m unable to find how to make the change. How do I fix this?”
**POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS**
A. - SET SCREEN FONTS TO “CLEAR TYPE”
1. Right click desktop
2. click Properties
3. select the appearance tab, then click the effects button
4. where it says use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, set it to clear type and apply.
B. - RESET DEFAULT XP THEME
1. go to the themes tab
2. select windows xp theme and apply,
this will override any other settings and should get them clear. you may
have to reset your wallpaper and a few other settings, but they are easy
to do.
C. - MAKE SURE ALL “DESKTOP ITEMS” ARE TURNED OFF
If you have ever right clicked on an item and clikced ’set as desktop
item…’ then this may be the problem. You need to make sure that they
are not selected. Do this by going to control panel, display, destop
tab, then selcting ‘customize desktop’. Click on the webs tab and make
sure none are selected.
D. - CHANGE VISUAL EFFECTS SETTINGS
1. Right click on My computer
2. Click properties
3. Go to advanced tab.
4. Under Perfomance click Settings
5. Under Visual Effect
6. Use Adjust for Best Appearance and Apply.
E. UNLOCK WEB ITEMS ON DESKTOP
1. From the desktop, “right” click and select Arrange Icons By…
2. Towards the bottom of the menu, make sure that Lock Web Items on
Desktop is unchecked
(Some of these steps came as a result of this forum thread:
22 Comments
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Hello Jarrod,
Thanks for the tips for your mother, and the rest of us. I had the same issue and no one could solve it. You Did! Great, sweet, thanks Jarrod. I have copy pasted your instructions in the event that it happens again.
Cheers dear one and thanks once again.
Cyrus
hi.. i tryed this sevrel times and not one of them worked.
Just wanted to say “thanks” this is a prob thats bugged me for ages, can’t believe it was so obvious ……… C cleared my problem.
hay thanks dude
thank you very much for your tips it worked and i m so happy u r genius
Nope, sorry, didnt work.. i even removed all the check boxes, leaving the Drop shadows option only in the visual settings tab ( Solution D ) but that didnt do it either. went to services, and killed the theames process, no going..
Thank you very much..! It was that web TAB.
Omg thx you so much i was about to smach my pc i was so upset, till i seen this post it fixed thx alot =P
miss spelled my own name lol ya but it was that tab under customization Privacy protection under web tab i unchecked it and wolla! thx alot once again
thank you so much. “e” worked for me.
thanks mate from ireland
Hi!
thanks a lot! “c” worked for me!
Worked great — thanks!
Perfect,excellent,,,,,
many thanks for your guidance .. I searched in many web site and ask from many people but they couldn’t to resolve this problem for me….
thanks and regards
Thanks a bunch! I was trying all the ideas suggested and yours finally worked! I hate those stupid, ugly background colors! You totally ROCK!!!
i had the same problem dudes but none of the solutions seemed to help me out
therefor i did some research on my own
right click on the desktop and click on the “desktop” tab, then click -> customize desktop and then click the “web” tab.
Once you are in the “web” tab uncheck all checked boxes and then press ok
then apply and you now have your icons’s text background gone transparent
if not yet then follow the instructions on “C” on the “possible sollutions” sector in this great webpage!
thanks for reading
hey dude,
i luv u, tnx soo much ur a gem dude…ummah. it was wrkin fine.
I was facing this issue from long tym….. thnk u so much…
I think option C is the best..as this is the only one which helped me…..thnx a lot dude….
thx man!
THAANNXXX… it was D… i hated it because i had a desktop that had abunch of colors.. and a 3d desktop with dif backrounds etc
THANKX
Thank you so much! D worked for me! Thank you and this is so great of a guide! I think all should be able to fix their problems with this!
Thanks!
thanks for the tip dude !! =)