Picking a Desktop Icon Size

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated August 14, 2017)

1

If your desktop is like mine, it tends to gather icons—lots of icons. As I get older and my monitor resolution gets finer, I find it helpful to once in a while change up how those icons appear. Windows provides three different sizes (small, medium, and large) that you can switch between. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Windows provides three different icon sizes for your desktop.

If you want to try out different icon sizes on your system, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click anywhere on desktop. (Don't right-click an item on the desktop; right-click the desktop itself.) Windows displays a Context menu.
  2. Hover over the View option. Windows displays additional choices to the right.
  3. Choose the icon size option that fits your needs; they are the first thee options on the menu: Large Icons, Medium Icons, or Small Icons.

Windows immediately makes the change and adjust what you see on your desktop. The change remains in effect until you explicitly change it again.

 This tip (13129) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He  is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Alternative Ways of Creating Random Text

You can use a built-in Word feature (RAND) to create random text, but such text may not be to your liking. This tip ...

Discover More

Saving Changes in the Personal Workbook

The Personal workbook is a special place used to store information and macros that you can access from all the other ...

Discover More

Running Macros on Hidden Worksheets

Excel allows you to hide worksheets so that they aren't visible to those using your workbook. Hiding worksheets has a ...

Discover More
More WindowsTips

Understanding Compatibility Settings

Compatibility settings are parameters within executable images that allow or deny it to properly run under a given ...

Discover More

Enabling Safe Mode

Safe Mode is an essential way to regain control of a system that fails to fully boot. Windows 10 doesn't come with a way ...

Discover More

Changing a Program's Compatibility Settings

If an older program no longer runs under Windows, you may still be able to get some life out of it by changing its ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WindowsTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 4?

2017-08-14 06:41:03

Henry Noble

Another old Windows feature that continues to work in Windows 10 is to point anywhere on the desktop and then roll the mouse scroll wheel up or down. The icon size adjustments using the scroll wheel are finer increments than the choices in View.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WindowsTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2018 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.