Show icon outlines while moving them on the Desktop

[leuce]

G'day everyone

How can I get Windows 7 to show the selected icons' outlines while I move them from one position to another on the Desktop?

In Windows XP, if you select one or more icons and then move them across the Desktop using drag and drop, the outlines of the icons are visible, so that you can see where all those icons will end up when you release the mouse button. Under Windows 7, I only see the mouse pointer (consisting of an arrow and a tiny grey rectangle) while I'm moving the icons. This means that if I move multiple icons at the same time, I don't know exactly where those icons will end up when I release the mouse button.

Setting "Show window contents while dragging" does not solve this problem. I'm using the Classic theme.

Thanks
Samuel

 

[sreedhav]

Dear leuce,
The Desktop is a folder actually! It auto-refreshes itself whenever any changes are made in it. To resolve your prob., either just press F5 or refresh by clicking in the context menu which drops down when you right click on an empty space on the Desktop.

As a matter of fact, you should be able to see the Icon moving when you drag and drop on any windows 7 Desktop! That's why the above suggestion.

regards,
sree

 

[leuce]

To resolve your prob., either just press F5 or refresh by clicking in the context menu which drops down when you right click on an empty space on the Desktop. ... You should be able to see the Icon moving when you drag and drop on any windows 7 Desktop!

Sorry, but pressing F5 before dragging the icons or pressing F5 while dragging them does not produce the required result (...of showing outlines of the icons being moved, or a "ghost image" thereof, as Brink calls it).

 

[Bongo]

Have a look at this thread http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/207789-make-title-bar-drastically-different-color.html I changed the active and inactive colors, it can be done with basic to, if this would help I can do 1 for you let me know.
Jerry

 

[leuce]

I changed the active and inactive colors, it can be done with Basic too. If this would help I can do one for you, let me know.

Thanks Jerry, but I would not want you to waste your time making a theme just for this one issue. If such a theme were to be made it would basically have to be a Basic theme that looks just like Classic .

I tried to change the window bar colours myself, in Basic, but the changes I make are not applied. I also tried to use non-transparent Aero with dark grey, which makes the inactive windows a lighter grey, but after some work on it I realised that the difference between light grey and dark grey isn't enough either -- it has to be a different colour. The blue and grey from the Classic theme works best, IMO. The grey works well because the entire window border is grey. A colour combination like red and blue would be confusing to me as well, I think. But thanks for the offer.

 

[Bongo]

I can change the basic frame to look like classic here is a screenshot of just the top frame but the sides and bottom can be changed to match.
If you would like I can do it for you.
Jerry

 

[boohbah]

i switched to basic as a test and you are correct ,you cannot see the icon when dragging,
i couldn't see a way round it , short of putting your icons on a dock keeping the desktop free

 

[AlanStewart]

So, did you ever get a solution to your problem? No one else here (or in the rest of the internet) is even close to undertanding it but this is exactly the problem I'm having with my new Windows 7 machine. It's extremely frustrating all the changes that seem to have gone on that are quite the PITA.

Thanks.

 

[leuce]

So, did you ever get a solution to your problem?

Nope. You just have to learn to get into the habit of selecting the upper-most icon of the group of selected icons, so that you know roughly where the upper-most icon will be dropped to. And learn to move only one row or one column or one block of icons at a time, instead of all at once like you could in Windows XP.

 

[boohbah]

ive been using stardock fences for years.
maybe worth trying , then you can see how the dragging works using it.
plus you have the bonus of being able to see your wallpaper without any icons in the way

check the trial out here

Fences - Your tool for a clean desktop