Desktop icons and placement have shrunk

I was having so many problems with my PC using Windows XP that I worried I had a virus. I took it to a PC repair place and they erased and reinstalled Windows XP (I think it was the home edition), then the problems came back along with new ones. So I took it to IT at work and they erased and reinstalled Windows XP again (I think it was the Pro version).
Then more problems came back and I discovered I had to re-install many of my drivers and also download and re-install a ton of updates.

The last updates I did said to restart the computer. So I did and left to do other things.
Anyway, when I came back, all of my icons were shrunk. I have some icons that have a default placement on the right side of the screen; those icons were not only shrunk, but they moved over to about 1/3 of the screen. It's like something reset the ratio of my screen settings and I don't know where to change it back to whatever the default was?

 

Hello jrasicmark, try this, right click an empty space on your desktop and click Properties, then, click the Settings tab and set your resolution toward less, after the size is ok with you, go back and click an empty space again and click Arrange by in the box then go down and put a check by Align to Grid, and that should do the trick.

 

A different way to change the size of the icons and the grid is holding the Ctrl key pressed while scrolling up or down with your mouse wheel.

Regards
GermanOne

 

that is cool germanone...didn't know you could do that...thankyou

 

Does nothing to change the desktop icon size. I tried it on three computers running XP and one computer running Win 7.
The ctrl + mousewheel will change the size of things in a browser window.

 

Try Win 7 again plodr - that works here on 7, 8.1 and even on an old Vista VM. Not on XP though. As well as changing icon size it can rather upset your desktop arrangement but a useful tip all the same.

 

Must be a setting somewhere? I get the same results in XP and 7 as plodr.

 

Must be :confused Only setting on mine is to scroll 3 lines for one wheel click with the same mouse controlling all three systems and their VMs.

 

Forgot, I have alwaysmousewheel installed. Disabling that and depressing and holding the right-mouse-click while also holding the Ctrl-key depressed and using the scroll wheel works.

Jumbled things pretty quick.:-D

 

Just tried three Windows 7 computers. It doesn't work on any of them. So that is 6 computers it doesn't work on. Brands of mice are: GE, Logitech, Microsoft and Kensington.

 

Strange, but no great loss. As plastidust said, it can scramble your desktop pretty quickly.

 

The best way I have found to Save and Restore the desktop icon layout, even with multiple resolutions, is with DesktopOK
I use it regularly and it works great.
I made the following change.

Options > Save options > check Overwrite existing

That way it saves only one layout for each resolution.

To Increase the size of the Icons, right click on the Desktop and select Properties:
Properties > Appearance tab > Effects > check Use large icons
Click OK then Apply then OK

You can also change the Display DPI setting, but I don't think that is what you want.
If you want to try that, go to Control Panel and open the Display management.
Click the Settings tab and then Advanced button.
Then change the DPI setting. You should Reboot after making the change.

 

Sorry I missed that.
The Screen Resolution setting is also in the Display Properties > Settings tab.
If you LOWER the resolution, you'll see Less stuff on the screen and it will appear bigger.

 

Hey jrasicmark, mjnc and I have both suggested this possible solution, have you tried it yet ??