There are NO small icons in folders in Windows 7 - How do you fix?

ok!
reading your post before,
you say you can see small icons in the menu when you right click the desktop,
but that you cant see the small icons in the menu if you right click in a window.

that is because there is a different way to resize the icons when in a window, there is an icon to click when in a window and it then shows the slider that is in dsperbers image above. ( or do the ctrl+win key+scroll.)

also when you have the folders etc the correct size you want then you can click organise/ folder and layout options,
in the window that opens then click the view tab then click apply these settings to folders or windows of this type.
or near as ,im remembering this as i use windows 8 now

I misunderstood your question and probably still don't understand so sorry about that!

Anyway in answer to your comment:
"Go to Windows 7, right click on your desktop, and ask it to display small icons. What do you see? Then go to a folder, and do the same thing. Do you see the same small icons, when in a folder, that you see on your desktop?"

It depends entirely upon what size I've chosen to set my desktop icons to and can use the spin the mouse wheel method to resize them or use Window Color & Appearance options.

I see there's a tutorial on icon sizes: Icon Size - Change in Windows Explorer Window