Remove the desktop drop shadow

On your desktop, if you notice a blurring behind some of the icons, this can easily be removed. Although it gives the icons a bit of extra depth in true-Vista-style, it can be quite off putting and some people can’t quite read the text properly, especially when a background is set.

Without the drop shadow…dropshadow.PNG…and with the drop shadow.

  1. Go to Start then Control Panel.
  2. Double click on the System icon in Classic view.
  3. In the System Properties window, select the Advanced tab.
  4. Under Performance, click the Settings button.
  5. In the long list of checkboxes, untick the Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.
  6. Apply and OK all the windows you’ve got open - instant results!
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2 comments

  1. joe UNITED STATES says:
    September 11th, 2007 at 11:10 pm

    This has not helped my problem. The shadows are still there.

  2. Zack Whittaker UNITED KINGDOM says:
    September 12th, 2007 at 5:37 pm

    Try again, and try restarting your computer afterwards. If it still doesn’t work, it’s probably a bug. If you have access to Connect, give them a shout and file a bug report. The Vista beta might not be open anymore, but the bugs still go through :)

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