desktop icon fonts unreadable

How can I make Win7 desktop icon text/fonts black? They are white and unreadable in my preferred backgound

TheSchaft said:

Welcome to Seven Forums, amcn!

Sorry for the delay in responding, folks must be at dinner... :)

There's a good tutorial here - Fonts - Change that ought to take care of your issue.

Edit: This only works for "Classic" themes. If you prefer to keep your Aero theme, the following will make the white text readable on a white background:

Control Panel -> System. Click on "Advanced System Settings"

Click on "Performance Settings" and look for "use drop shadows for icon labels on desktop" Click to enable it.

Now the labels should be visible on any background.

Thanks for your replies to my problem. I had tried whith Classic but when I go to advance settings Ii notice that for "menu" etc it is possible to change colour (this is the exaple in the tutorial) but for "icon" the colour change tab for fonts is greyed out so not possible to change the colour of the text for icons. I have also tried the drop shadow on Aero themes but the icon text is very difficult to read. I have also tried changing fonts and using larger sizes etc. It is a shame that a basic black font has been ommitted from Win 7 desktop icons
Thanks for trying to help!
amcn

I have attached pics of my desktop with 3 sizes of icons on my 22" monitor, it is easier to explain with a pic!
I prefer the small icons and have no problem in XP with black text - instant readability.
The win7 white is probably OK for gamers but not for buisiness or professionals in a hurry!
I thought that the black icon text omission was an oversight in Win7 RC
If anyone has found a workaround for getting desktop icon black text, I would be eternally grateful as otherwise I have found the WIN7 a huge improvement on previous OS but I do need to be able to read the icon text quickly when I switch on.
amcn

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Anna/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]

TheSchaft said:

Again, sorry for the delay, but I have found a way to make the text black for you

I got this from another site, and it works.


*Make sure you de-select "use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop".

*Now, right click, go to personalize, then go to desktop background, then go to solid colors. Click white background, apply. The text will have changed to black.

*Now go back to select the picture that you want to be your background.

Note that this works until you select drop shadows again - at that point you're back to white. No drop shadows, but at least you can have black text!

Hi, oh this was worth waiting for!!!!
It works a treat
Thsnk you - it even works with solid cream too
I appreciate your perseverance in finding a solution for my icon label problem
Thanks again! --- and again !!!
AMCN

Hi guys. Has anyone else encountered the "unremovable desktop icon text shadow" problem with aero activated?
This is driving me crazy. When I go to control panel / system / advanced system settings / performance settings / visual effects / use drop shadows for icon labels..... and UNCHECK IT nothing happens.
Horrid shadows are still there