How do I Remove transparent boxes around desktop icons

Hi. I've looked everywhere for a working solution to removing the transparent boxes behind my desktop icons (shown in an image I'll upload for you, although I imagine you're all very aware of what I'm talking about). So, naturally. I've tried several suggestions such as dropping shadow, having an html image, replacing .dll files with recommended replacement downloads (not the safest of choices).

So, without any luck I'm here asking if anyone can recommend me a solution. I hate to ask, any suggestions are appreciated greatly.

[Moderator]

Remove the shortcut overlay: http://download.cnet.com/Vista-Shortcut-Overlay-Remover/3000-2072_4-10608910.html

What a very ugly desktop wallpaper that is!

Not what I was after, but thanks, Allan.

[edit] I'll still put it to use

[Moderator]

I believe it will solve your problem - try it.

I tried it. It removed the shortcut arrow, however it hasn't removed the transparent box arounnd my icons.

[Moderator]

Sorry. Thought that might have been part of the overlay.

[Moderator]

The original icons would probably need to be edited in a photo edit app to clean that out...

Why does one need to remove transparent boxes?   

Well just looks abit crude having them there. It's not a big deal, I know. I've found turning the image size down to large instead of very large gets rid of the box, although the size isn't the same and since I don't tend to have many files on my desktop, I like having large images.

[Moderator]

Have you tried another background ? ?  perhaps it will be less noticeable.

i was actually wondering the same thing..... i just kinda want the same thing. not box around the icon like the way the icons used to be in XP

none of my icons have boxes around them...

with mine not sure about the other guy but the transparent box only shows when the mouse hovers over the icon.... any icon

like this icon here



[Saving space, attachment deleted by admin]

Thats not the transparent box I'm on about. Like, in the pictures shown in the first post, you can see a square outline.
Anyway, it doesn't matter now, I just started using stardock which took the boxes away. Just trying to cut down on software used to enhance my desktop.

actually, I think patio was on to something here maybe... in the original images, the shortcut overlay is quite far away from the icon... looking at talontrompers image (which is similar to my icons), the icon is both highlighted in it's entirety, And, it has rounded edges this may not seem significant, but really, it is.

Now; the shortcut overlay is drawn on TOP of the lower left corner of the icon in question; in this case, the border is enlarged, AND the overlay is drawn to the lower left of the icon.


This leads me to the conclusion of one of two things: either the icon has some transparent area surrounding it; or, another possibility, is that Active Desktop has been enabled. Bear in mind, that Active Desktop doesn't explicitly need to be enabled; it will automatically be enabled if you use a PNG image for any screen element, such as the background or icons. Also, it's not really a "forward" option; that is, Microsoft kind of shuffled it into a backroom for windows releases after about windows 2000 Windows XP makes a few quick mentions of it but nothing like the full page banner ads Microsoft had with Windows 98.

Now, why do I mention Active Desktop? well, in this case, the icons are being treated as "links" and the formatting of the desktop goes by the rules of HTML; in this case, it would seem that the padding and spacing have caused the icon to be inset within the border, which exists because the icon itself is really a link to the shortcut location.

What you do is click on your desktop, hit ctrl, and use your scroll wheel to get to the correct icon size.

What you do is click on your desktop, hit ctrl, and use your scroll wheel to get to the correct icon size.

This thread is 1 year old... check the year... anyhow, the question was "How do I remove transparent boxes?"

This thread is 1 year old... check the year... anyhow, the question was "How do I remove transparent boxes?"

My bad I didn't look at the year, knew the answer and felt I should help. You actually do change the icon size with that method and the boxes will go away. Its because the size was changed that the boxes appear. That's what I meant to say.