The desktop for the user is not so much a welcome picture upon boot operating system Windows how much useful tool at work. Thanks to it you can instantly access necessary files, installed programs or folders. Therefore, each user strives to customize the desktop according to their own wishes.

Ways to customize desktop icons on Windows 10

All available desktop settings on Windows 10 are divided into three large groups:

• setting icon size;
• customizing the display of icons (adding or removing);
• Individual personalization of each icon.

Let us briefly consider each of the selected groups.

Setting icon size

The creators of Windows 10 have developed three types of icon sizes: large, regular and small. To use this setting, right-click on your desktop, hover over the View option, and then set the icon scale to your desired size. In addition to adjusting the size, the option adjusts the ordering and alignment of icons.

Use the View tab to adjust the size, arrangement, and alignment of icons

To fine-tune the size of shortcuts, hold down the CTRL key on the desktop screen and scroll the mouse wheel up or down. This will increase the number of available sizes to 20.

Video: ways to adjust the size of desktop icons

Setting icon display (adding or removing)

If desired, all standard system Windows icons(computer, recycle bin, network) you can hide or, conversely, add and pin to the desktop. To do this, you should use the personalization function. Right-click and go to the item of the same name.

In the “Themes” menu, click “Customize desktop icons” and configure the display of the necessary system Windows icons by adding or removing marks. In this window, the appearance of the icons also changes when you press the “Change Icon” button.

The “Desktop Icon Settings” window allows you to configure the display of system desktop icons

Video: Ways to add system icons on the desktop

Individual personalization of each icon

Another option for customizing icons is customization (setting appearance) of each label separately. Moreover, customization concerns both system icons and shortcuts.

1. Right-click on any icon and go to Properties.

   To customize, right-click on the shortcut and find “Properties”

2. Go to the “Shortcut” tab and at the bottom of the tab click on “Change Icon”. You can also customize quick start programs (or opening a folder) by pressing certain keys when filling out the corresponding “Shortcut” field.

   Click the "Change Icon" button in the "Shortcut" tab

3. In the window that appears, select the icon you like from the list provided. You can also create a new icon yourself by specifying the path to a .ico image when using Explorer's Browse feature.

   Select the appropriate icon from the list

Problems with desktop icons

Errors occur on the desktop, as in other Windows system services. Most often, failures lead to problems with correct display desktop icons. Let's consider the most common problems and ways to solve them.

Flashing/flickering icons

There are three reasons for the problem:

• video card drivers are damaged;
• incompatibility of programs installed on the PC;
• Windows system services failure.

In the first case, you will need to reinstall the video card drivers. To do this, do the following:

1. Next to the Start button, click Search and type “Device Manager.” Left-click on the control panel setting that appears.

   Find Device Manager using Search

2. In the manager window that opens, find the “Video adapters” category, expand it, select your video card, right-click on it and click “Update Drivers.”

   Update your drivers by selecting context menu corresponding function

3. After this it will begin automatic update video adapter drivers. When finished, restart your computer.

To update the video card driver, your computer must be connected to the Internet.

In the second case, you will need to find a program that conflicts with the Windows 10 system and uninstall it as follows:

1. Use the WIN+R key combination to call command line and enter the value compmgmt.msc into it.

   Open compmgmt.msc in the command line

2. In the “Computer Management” window that appears, go to the required category at the following address: “Utilities/Event Viewer/Windows Log/System”, where in the list of running programs find the “Error” information. Remember the name of the application written in the “Source” field. To make it easier to identify faulty applications, installed and running programs can be sorted by date.

   Find conflicting programs in the "System" tab

3. Open This PC and select the Uninstall or change a program option.

   To remove programs, use the “Uninstall or change a program” function in the “This PC” tab.

4. Find the application that is conflicting with the system and remove it.

   Remove conflicting apps from the list

5. After the uninstallation process, reboot.

In the third case, you will need to scan Windows system for damaged services.

Some desktop icons disappear

“Disappearance” of icons from the desktop occurs due to problems with a critical failure in the operation of Explorer. To troubleshoot problems in the task manager (combination CTRL+ALT+DELETE), find and select “Explorer”, right-click on it and click “Restart” or use the “Restart” button in the lower right corner of the manager.

Restart Explorer using the appropriate buttons in the task manager

Sometimes the disappearance of icons is associated with the enabled Continuum function (tablet mode), which is only available in Windows 10. To disable it, go to the “System” section settings (Start menu - “Settings”).

Find the System section in Windows Settings

In the list of options that appears on the left, select “Tablet Mode” and disable the two sliders available in the settings. The function of automatically switching the device to tablet mode is also disabled in the corresponding field.

Change Tablet Mode settings to return app icons to the desktop

Disappearance of all shortcuts from the desktop

The reason for the problem is simple - the icon display setting is disabled on the computer. The problem is solved in two clicks: first, right-click on the desktop, then move the cursor to “View” and check the “Display desktop icons” checkbox.

Enable the “Show desktop icons” option in the “View” tab

Video: How to enable icon display on Windows 10

If the above method does not help solve the problem, use an alternative option. Open the command line (WIN+R) and enter the following commands, separated by commas: Rundll32 shell32.dll, Controll_RunDLL desk.cpl,5. When entering, be careful to write all characters and symbols correctly. Click OK.

Enter the commands in the command line and click OK

Move icons around the desktop yourself

The problem is this: after restarting the computer, the arrangement of the icons is constantly confused and the shortcuts are randomly “scattered” across the screen. To fix the problem, right-click on the desktop, select “View” and check the “Align icons to grid” option.

To eliminate icon movement, enable the Align Icons to Grid option in the View tab.

After that, right-click again on the desktop and click “Update” to save the alignment settings.

Video: How to Pin Desktop Icons on Windows 10

Other problems

In addition to the above problems, there are other problems that you need to know how to fix.

No notification area

It happens that icons are displayed as they should directly on the desktop, but the “Notification Area” (time, language layout, volume, network status, etc.) is missing on the lower taskbar.

No notification area on the bottom taskbar

To solve this problem:

1. Select “Settings” from the Start menu and in the window that appears, click on the “Personalization” setting.

   Find the "Taskbar" item in the menu on the left and open it

2. In the “Notification Area” section, click one by one on the items “Choose the icons displayed in the taskbar” and “Turn system icons on or off.”

   Enable required command icons

Shortcut association failure

When this type of problem occurs, launching a shortcut does not open the associated program, and the application does not respond. To restore a shortcut association:

Can't move shortcuts

In addition to the “chaotic scattering” of icons on the desktop, you may encounter the opposite situation - the inability to move shortcuts. No matter what you do when you drag a shortcut, it automatically returns to its original position. There are two ways to solve the problem.

Disable the "Arrange icons automatically" option in the "View" tab

Remember the main thing: to avoid all errors and problems with your desktop, update your Windows operating system in a timely manner and periodically scan with anti-virus programs.

Desktop - system Windows service, which is also subject to technical failures: incorrect display icons, problems with shortcuts. However, the failures that occur do not involve serious system errors and are resolved in a few minutes.

How to fix the problem when shortcuts on the desktop are blinking Windows desktop? Users often encounter this system error. Although the error may not lie in the OS. Icons can blink for a variety of reasons.

Reasons

This strange behavior of the main screen elements indicates serious errors in the operation of the PC or in the operation of external devices. It is common for shortcuts to flash on the desktop shortly after upgrading from 7 to Windows 10.

First, press “Ctrl+Shift+Esc” and open “Task Manager”. Next, you need to pay attention to the elements available there, located in the window that opens. If they blink, like the shortcuts, then the problem lies in the operation of the video card or in the driver packages for it.

If the flickering stops or continues only on the desktop, the problem is in the service or incompatible program.

Reinstalling drivers

Drivers for the video card, and for all other computer components, should be kept up to date. But for updating (including solving an error), options using specialized software. In this case, it is better to pay attention to manual search and installation by visiting the official website of the video card manufacturer. It would also be a good idea to check the version installed driver, to do this, open the “Device Manager”, find the “Video adapters” section, open the “Properties” of your component and pay attention to the version of the driver used on the tab of the same name.

Disabling services

On Windows 10, disabling some special system services helps. Because of them, such problems often arise.

1. Open the Task Manager.
2. Select the “Services” section. To do this, you need to open the advanced mode of the dispatcher.
3. We are looking for two lines: “Registration service Windows errors" and "Problem reports and solutions." (Problem Reports and Solution Control Panel Support and Windows Error Report Service).
4. Let's turn them off.

After this, as a rule, all the shortcuts on the desktop stop blinking. This method has only been tested on Windows 10.

Other reasons and solutions

One of the problems that is causing the blinking may be a problem with the keyboard or separate keys. Check to see if the F5 key is stuck. On most PCs, it is responsible for fast updates. This way, the icons can simply update endlessly when this button is pressed. You have a desktop computer - try using a different keyboard. If the problem does not go away, then it is not the problem.

Problems may be related to the operation of the video card. Or rather, with the settings of its work. This method helped people who had NVIDIA video card, but may work with other video cards.

1. Open the panel NVIDIA management(or AMD, if you have it).
2. IN top menu Click on the “Desktop” button.
3. Uncheck "Add context menu".
4. Restart your computer.

A disabled option causes the screen to constantly refresh, which manifests itself in the form of endless blinking.

It would be a good idea to check the Windows Log logs for software that often causes errors. Perhaps the core of the problem lies in this software.

To do this:

• Press “WIN+R” and execute the command “compmgmt.msc”;
• Open the “Event Viewer” section - “ Windows logs»;
• Pay attention to the logs of the “Applications” and “System” sections.

Identify the possible culprit and remove it in any way possible.

Now you know how you can get rid of such a problem as shortcuts constantly blinking on the main screen. The methods are not suitable for everyone, but do not rush to take your computer to a service center or tear down the system without trying them.

There is a bug that affects the movement of icons on the desktop.

When you try to move an icon to the very left side of the desktop, you may notice that it will return to its original location when you try to do so.

This doesn't always happen, but it is annoying when it does. This means that it is difficult to re-arrange the icons on Windows 10 on the desktop and to place individual icons on the left side of the desktop.

You have two main options to solve the problem.

Fix “jumping icons” on Windows 10 computer

The first option you have is to enable the "align icons to grid" option, which will take care of this. Right-click an empty space on your desktop and choose View > Align Icons in Grid to activate this feature. You can repeat the process to disable it again in the future.

This will take care of the jump icon issue, but it may display large gaps between separate files and labels.

While there is no option to change the spacing between icons in Windows 10 Settings, you can change the spacing using the Windows Registry:

1. Click on Windows key, type regedit.exe and press Enter to launch Windows Registry Editor.
2. Accept the UAC prompt that is displayed.
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics.
4. IconSpacing defines the horizontal spacing. The default value is -1725, and you can set it to a value between -480 and -2730. Windows 8.1 had a default value of -1125, which meant icons were closer horizontally.
5. IconVerticalSpacing defines the vertical spacing. The default value is -1725 and it has the same minimum and maximum values ​​as IconSpacing.

Please note that you must restart your computer or kill and restart Explorer to view the changes.

IN latest versions Windows 10, including the Fall Creators Update (Redstone 3), there is a bug that affects the location of icons (shortcuts) on the desktop. Anyone who has encountered this knows that attempts to move the desired icon to the left side of the screen usually end in failure - at the moment of “landing” it instantly returns to its original place. The topic of the “anomalous zone” has been raised many times on computer forums, read below for tips on solving the problem from popular experts IT-portals Deskmodder And gHacks.

First, I’ll give you a simple life hack from the team Deskmodder.de. They noticed that when dragging a shortcut, luck was much more likely to favor those who placed the mouse pointer on the left side of it.

One of the authors of the articles and founder of the site visited gHacks.net Martin Brinkmann ( Martin Brinkmann) gave a detailed solution to the problem of "jumping icons" in Windows 10. Nothing complicated: you need to enable the "Align to Grid" function, known since Windows XP. To do this, right-click on an empty space on the table and select " View" ("View") → further, voiced " Align icons to grid" ("Align icons to grid").

After fixing the elements of the workbench, another “trouble” may appear - a large distance between them.

This cannot be solved through the operating system settings due to the lack of an option, but the interval is easily adjusted through system registry. To change the distance between desktop icons (shortcuts):

• press the logo key Windows() → in the search field enter regedit.exe → "Enter";
• in the registry editor expand the branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics ;

• in section WindowMetrics parameter IconSpacing defines the horizontal distance between icons (the default value is "-1725", in Windows 8.1 / 7 the default value was "-1125", i.e. the labels were closer horizontally), set its value in the range from "-480" to "-2730";
• parameter IconVerticalSpacing defines the vertical distance between icons (default value is "-1725"), has the same minimum and maximum values ​​as IconSpacing.

By exposing optimal distance between desktop items, restart your computer or force close and restart Explorer. I wrote about how to implement this in practice in " How to restore the location of shortcuts on the Windows 10/8/7 desktop": via key combination " Win +R"Open the Run window and enter cmd → "OK" → in the console type taskkill/I.M.explorer.exe /F → "Enter" (to launch Explorer, run the command in the console explorer →"Enter"). Final!

Dmitry dmitry_spb Evdokimov

Switching to a new OS from Microsoft is always pleasant and exciting. Besides the beautiful user interface people expect maximum performance and stable operation. It’s a pity that some problems begin immediately or a few months after switching to a new operating system from Microsoft. Today we will solve one of the most unpleasant ones. Let's find out what to do if desktop icons are blinking in Windows 10.

Description of the problem

Blinking (flickering) of elements on the desktop is caused by three reasons:

• graphics adapter driver corruption;
• incompatibility of some programs;
• malfunction of one of the standard Windows services.

Each of these problems is easily solved, so let's get started treating your computer.

How to fix it?

First you need to find out what the problem is.

To do this, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and open Task Manager. Look at the elements located in the window. If they blink, like the shortcuts, you have a problem with the video card or its driver package. If the flickering stops or continues only on the desktop, the problem is in the service or incompatible program. Depending on the symptoms detected, proceed to the required item.

Reinstalling the driver

Outdated or corrupt drivers affect the display quality of the graphical user interface. To eliminate flickering, do the following:

Removing incompatible components

If the driver is not involved in the flickering, then you need to look for a defective software component. To successfully search, do the following:

1. Press Win+R.
2. Enter compmgmt.msc in the text field and confirm your entry with the Enter key.
   
   
3. In the window that appears, go to “Event Viewer” – “Windows Logs” – “Applications” and “System”.
4. Examine the information provided in the logs and determine the application that provokes large number errors.
   
   
5. Open “This PC” – “Uninstall or change a program”.
   
   
6. Find the desired program and uninstall it.
7. Restart your computer.

This method should solve the problem with the flashing desktop. However, there is another method designed for especially complex cases. For this.