To run any application or open any file, you need to click on its shortcut that activates a process to open what you wish for. It is not magic but simple computer science and the object that make this possible are called ICONS. These little icons on our desktop can be customized and suit to our needs and make life easier. Read on to find out, how?
How Can Our Life Be Easier By Customizing Our Desktop Icons?
- Enlarged Icons not only help people with vision issue but also helps everyone else to locate important or current files placed on desktop easily.
- Makes the icon text easier to read.
- Compressing the icon size and help you add more shortcuts and files on your desktop.
- Smaller file icons can be easily sorted, alphabetically or date wise.
Also Read: Best Cleaning Software for PC
How To Change The Desktop Icon Size In Windows 10?
Easy Steps– Simple and doesn’t require much to do.
- By using mouse only. Right click on an empty space on the desktop where no icon is placed. And you would get a pop-up menu. Bring your mouse cursor on the first option ‘View’. It would further give you three options- Large, Medium and Small. The changes would reflect instantly.
- By using keyboard only. Press and hold the CTRL + SHIFT button and press 1,2,3,4. This would instantly change the size of your desktop icons with 1 for the largest and 4 for the smallest. Currently the default desktop is set at 3. Check the animation below to get a clear picture:
- By using mouse and keyboard. Press and hold the CTRL and use the scroll wheel of the mouse to change the size of the desktop icons. Starting from the largest icon size to the smallest size, there are 25 sizes you can choose from. However, the 4 sizes provided in the previous step are the generic sizes which most would prefer. But if you want to customize further, feel free to scroll the mouse wheel.
Somewhat Complicated Steps– Attempt only if the above-mentioned easy steps fail to deliver what you want to achieve.
- Custom Scaling. Right click on an empty space on the desktop and choose the penultimate option from the pop-up menu known as ‘Display Settings’. A system setting window will open which be set as default to Display settings. Under the various display settings, check out the options under ‘Scale and Layout’. Look at the image below for a clear view:
You can increase the size of desktop icons by increasing the percentage of the layout. The box contains 4 options and to apply a custom percentage, click the Advanced Scaling Setting link. You can enter a custom scaling size between 100% to 500%. It is not recommended though by Microsoft and one of the limitations of using this feature is that you must sign out every time you want the changes to take effect.
There are a few other settings that you can experiment with. But there is one that is labelled as ‘Orientation’ and must not be tampered with. It does nothing much, just changes your screen view to Portrait from the default Landscape. Not sure what use this option would be of but reverting back to the default view can prove a serious challenge as the mouse pointer alters its axis from vertical to horizontal and vice versa.
The above steps can assist you to resize your desktop icons in Windows 10. You can either reduce the desktop icon size and make them smaller or increase their size and make them larger. These steps can also be used to reset the desktop icons in Windows 10.
How To Change The Icon Size In File Explorer?
The Icon size in folders can be easily changed from ‘Extra Large’ to ‘Small’ quiet conveniently. Not only the size but it also allows the user to view the files and sub-folders in a folder in a list or tile view with file details.
There are two methods to achieve this. The first self-explanatory option is provided in the ‘View’ tab on the top right corner of the folder. Once you left click it with the mouse, a new set of options appear which allows you to choose from various options. The Extra Large, Large, Medium and Small options allow the user to change the size of the icons. The List and Tiles icon arranges the contents of the folder into Tiles view or List view. The Content options display a few details beside the icon like the file type and size.
The last option Details provides several attributes of a file to the user. By default, four attributes namely, Name, Size, Type and Date modified are displayed. With a right click on any one of the four, displays a new menu with a list of over 30 attributes which can be chosen by simply clicking the checkbox beside each attribute.
These changes should happen smoothly, and the results are reflected almost instantly. If you feel that it takes some amount of notable time which making these changes, I recommend optimizing your computer once and cleaning out the Junk files. One of the best software I have been using over the years is Advanced System Optimizer. It is a very powerful tool and optimizes your system ensuring hassle free usage experience. Everything you use today, from cars to kitchen appliances, from thermostats to refrigerators, and all other gadgets and devices require maintenance. Advance System Optimizer is the perfect maintenance tool for computers as it includes:
System Cleaner: Cleans all the unwanted data on your system which creates space and removes congestion of files resulting in a faster PC.
Game Optimizer: Enjoy an uninterrupted gaming experience on your PC. This feature turns off all the notifications and terminates unrequired background services and programs, to ensure all the available resources are engaged in a smooth running of the game.
Driver Updater: ASO features an auto driver updater which runs its searches in the background, updating all your computer’s drivers to the latest version. With the latest drivers, the communication between the computer’s hardware and software becomes flawless thus minimizing the chances of system crashes.
System Protector: It protects your system from Malware, Virus, Trojan and Spyware attacks. This eliminates the need of purchasing a separate Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware.
Disk Optimizer: When you install a program or save files on your hard drive, they are stored all over the disk in different clusters or sectors. ASO helps to defragment your hard drive and organize the data so that it is easy for the operating system to access them.
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How To Change The Taskbar Icon Size In Windows 10?
Users don’t have many options while customizing the Taskbar icon size. There is the default large size and you can further minimize it only. To do so, make a right click on your mouse, placing the mouse cursor anywhere on the taskbar. A pop-up menu opens, click on the last option that is labelled as ‘Taskbar Settings’. A new window opens with all the settings related to taskbar. One of the options in this window is ‘Use small taskbar buttons’ and it would be turned off by default. Use your mouse pointer to slide it rightwards and the option knob would slide and turn blue. The changes would be reflected instantly.
This step will help you to make your taskbar icons bigger or smaller in Windows 10.
How To Change The Icon Spacing Between Desktop Icons?
Speaking of customizing the desktop, another change that can be done with the icons other than increasing or decreasing the size, is to alter the default spacing between two desktop icons. The space can be increased between two adjacent icons (Horizontally) and two icons on top/below each other (Vertically). The process is a bit technical and requires you to be attentive while carrying it out.
The default value for desktop icon spacing set by windows is -1125. You can of course make your icons closer or farther apart by changing that value. The value ranges between -480 to -2730. Any value that does not follow between, would not reflect any changes. Also, for changes to be observed, a restart of the system is required.
The steps to do so involve Windows Registry, which is a hierarchical database of all the functions of your operating system. I have explained the steps in the simplest manner possible:
- Open the RUN window. It can be done by pressing Windows button + R. Alternatively type ’RUN’ in the search bar on the bottom right corner.
- A new box opens with a bar where you can type. Type ‘Regedit’ and hit Enter button on the keyboard.
- Navigate in the Registry Window to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
- Once you click on WindowsMetrics in the left panel of the box, you will see many objects in the right panel. Look for ‘Icon Spacing’ and double click it. A new small box appears where you would find -1125 written under Value Data. Notice it is editable and you can enter a value between -480 and -2730. Remember, if you decrease the default number, the icons would move closer to each other and if you increase the value, the icons would space farther apart.
- The ‘Icon Spacing’ moves the icon horizontally. For Vertical movement, double click on the registry key labelled as ‘Icon Vertical Spacing’. The same rules apply.
- Restart the computer for changes to take effect.
If you feel that you just want gaze and enjoy your wallpaper for some time, just make a right click anywhere on the desktop, free of icons and click on the ‘View’ option in the menu. Now select the last option ‘Show desktop icons’ and all the icons on your desktop would disappear, turning your monitor into a large photo frame.
You can of course, get back your icons by repeating the same steps once again. For organizing your over crowded desktop read this.
That’s all folks! All the knowledge, I could research on relating to Icons on Desktop. Though small, but they are very important in our day-to-day life. Imaging using DOS commands to initiate and terminate every software. So, love your Desktop Icons and how you resize them or alter the spaces between them is up to you. Do let me know if I missed anything related to the icons or if you need more help with the steps provided above in the comments section.