Windows 7: Make my desktop icons more readable!

I enclose a screenshot of what I mean. I'm talking about the icons on the 'sky' background, which I have great difficulty in reading. Is it possible to have so;id clour for those icons (all of the desktop icons)?

I'm using Win 7 64 HP. I've tried using Fences and Iconoid, but couldn't make much sense of them!

Thank you,

Hello Bertie,

You might see how the icon text looks to you after turning off drop shadows for them.

Desktop Icon Labels - Turn Drop Shadows On or Off


In addition, you might open the Advanced Appearance Settings, select the Icon item, then adjust either it's font, font size, and try bold or unbold to see if it may help. I marked them in red in the screenshot below to help. The screenshot shows the default settings for the "Icon" item. This will change the text for all icons though, and not just on your desktop.



Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hello Shawn

Well, I think it is now a bit better. If I turned off Drop shadow, I couldn't see ANY text so I had to turn it on again. I finished up just making the same size font (Segoe 9.5) bold.

It is better now but not as good as I would like. I notice that I cannot change the colour of the font as it is greyed out.

Thanks for a very detailed tutorial!

have you considered using stardock fences
i think this will suit your needs and hide your icons so you can enjoy your wallpapers properly.

Fences - Windows Desktop Organization Software

You're welcome Bertie.

Hopefully what Julian posted above may work better for you.

I had another try with Fences, and this time, I can see what you mean! I think that will probably do the trick.

Thank you Shawn and Julian.

That's great news. I'm happy to hear that will work for you.

Hi there
Another trick -- this changes the size of them. (W8 users too this works as well).

1) Click anywhere on the desktop

2) Hold down the CTRL key

3) Rotate the scroll wheel on your Mouse.

This increases the size of the Icons (pic shown) - extreme case but just to show !!

For TEXT use the properties in the display to change the std text size - in personalisation you can change the text size.

Cheers
jimbo

good news, changing the color of the fence background to one that suits will definitely help make the shortcut text stand out.
i have used fences since the first try ,cant imagine not having them now.
although it has made me lazy at keeping my desktop cleaner, before i just used a dock that was hidden until mouseover, and that made me keep the desktop clear now i can just hide my crap with a click and i clean it usually when i run out of desk space.