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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
December 13, 2009
Q.
I recently change to a bigger monitor with a
higher resolution and now my desktop icons
are too small. How can I increase the size
of these without lowering my resolution?
A.
This can be done in all current operating
systems, but is much simpler with Vista and
Windows 7 than with XP. First, I'll cover
the only method that will work with all
three operating systems and the only one
that works with XP. Since the steps to get
to the dialog where the changes are actually
made is different in the three operating
systems, I'll do then one at a time.
XP
Right click the desktop and choose
Properties. Click the Appearance tab then
the Advanced button. This will open the
"Appearance Settings" dialog. Click the
Advanced button.
Vista
Right click the desktop and choose
Personalize. Click on "Windows Color and
Appearance", and then click on "Open classic
appearance properties for more color
options". Note that with Aero disabled, this
last step is not available and you will go
directly to the "Appearance Settings"
dialog. Click the Advanced button.
Windows 7
Right click the desktop and choose
Personalize. Click on the Color icon at the
bottom of the window. Click on "Advanced
Appearance Settings". Note that with the
Aero disabled, this last step is not
available and you will go directly to the
"Window Color and Advanced" dialog.
Following
the above steps will display the dialog
similar to the one shown here. In XP and
Vista it will be titled "Advanced
Appearance" and in Windows 7, "Windows Color
and Appearance." The actual one for Windows
7 is shown.
Click the
down arrow to the right of the "Item:" space
and scroll down to Icon. Click on it to
highlight it, and change the size. OK out
and the size of the desktop icons will have
been changed.
As stated
above, this is the only way to change the
icon size on XP. Now for the much easier way
to do it in Vista or Windows 7. Actually,
there are two ways, one documented the other
undocumented.
Right
click the desktop and select View. Now you
are given three choices, Large Icons, Medium
icons, or Classic (small) icons. One of
these may suffice, but in case it doesn't,
here is the undocumented trick that makes it
almost too easy.
This does
require a external mouse with a scroll wheel
but most computers will have this. With the
desktop displayed, hold down the CTRL key
and rotate the mouse scroll wheel. Do this
slowly as each click will increase or
decrease the icons size. The size of the
desktop icons can be quickly, easily and
immediately set to anything from extremely
small to ridiculously large. |
