[GUIDE] How to get rid of Icon Text Backgrounds

[blankaex]

I'm sure you all know and hate what I'm talking about. This:



So I'm going to teach you to change this



to this



First off, right click on My Computer and click Properties. When the dialog pops up, go to the Advanced tab and click the Settings button under the Performance section.



From here, you can mess around with any of the settings you want, as it's quite easy to understand and reverse. Checking the Adjust for best Performance will uncheck everything in the list and make your theme look old, but your computer will run pretty quickly. Checking the Adjust for best Appearance will check everything in the list and your computer will have plenty of animations and the like, at the cost of running speed.

Anyway, that's not what we're here for. Check if the Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop is checked or not. If it's unchecked, you will have a background colour behind your icon text. If it is checked, you will have no background colour behind your icon text.



Congratulations, you just got rid of possibly one of the most ugly things on your computer!

If the above didn't work, post a reply back and I'll see if I can help you. Don't just say something like "doesn't work". How am I going to fix that? I'd rather something like "Blankaex, even though the box is checked, I still have the background behind my text. I use an [example graphic card], running on [example operating system], etc."

[FailFTW]

Most of us here have moved on to Windows 7.

[blankaex]

Most of us here have moved on to Windows 7.

I don't think I'd ever switch OS until there's one that actually works properly, not just looks nice. And also, my XP is skinned beyond belief, no one would know how to use it except me. Which is why this is important if you care about what your desktop looks like :D

[Rook]

I don't think I'd ever switch OS until there's one that actually works properly, not just looks nice. And also, my XP is skinned beyond belief, no one would know how to use it except me. Which is why this is important if you care about what your desktop looks like :D

I'm not sure what you mean by not working properply, but that's pretty much the definition of a decade old OS as less and less people support XP now. Beyond that nice guide for people who didn't know how to do that.

[rasudoken]

At first when I came in here and saw that pic, I thought the drop shadow thing was cool, but then you were telling us how to get rid of it.

[ClericLordLeo]

I use Ubuntu 10.10


good guide though 10/10 though it was a bit random

[Satsumomo]

AFAIK, XP will only default to no dropshadows if it detects that you have a really old processor/low RAM.

Also lol at Win7 not working properly. W7 is so much easier and faster to use than XP is.

[blankaex]

Also lol at Win7 not working properly. W7 is so much easier and faster to use than XP is.

I was talking about Vista not working. Vista just looks nice, but it's terrible. And W7 isn't easier to use for some who are used to XP. It's quite similar, but everything is bigger and rounder and I don't like that look is all.

[Satsumomo]

Vista is also great compared to XP, but it does take a bit to get used to, specially if you've been using XP for so long.

I was really against Vista, but when SP1 came out, I installed the 64bit version on my machine and I loved it. Heck, even going to 7 from Vista had it's changes, but I got used to them too and now see that they're for the better.

We have XP, Vista and W7 machines at school. I have the most trouble with the XP machines because the interface is really clunky, Vista lacks some minor shortcuts that W7 implemented. I love working with W7.

W7 also has amazing reskins, which is what you've done to XP, so that's not really a valid complaint :P

[F50 NOS]

Not everyone here either uses Windows 7 or Ubuntu 10.10 or whatnot. Not everyone may have a system that XP detects is adequate enough to turn on drop shadows by default. I'm wiling to bet this isn't the first time someone had this problem. This world doesn't just revolve around you people with decent systems running Windows 7 or whatnot. We can argue about how W7 is better than XP or Vista, or how XP is better than Vista, but the fact remains is that there are still A LOT of machines running XP, and I'm sure someone will find this guide useful.

All in all, this is a very useful guide that serves its purpose well. If you have this problem and you want to resolve it, then it's the guide for you. If you don't have this problem, then just don't post making the implication that this problem is not really a problem anymore.