Question Desktop Icons spacing out randomly ?

[gorgon777]

Occasionally when I start up my desktop PC, my desktop icons will be spaced out like in the below image. I am not sure what causes it other than it is always on start up. Restarting the machine does resolve the issue, but it will re-occur 1 out of 3 times whenever I start my machine from Power Off. I have not noticed it occur on a restart yet. I have already done a fresh Windows 10 Install and tried to correct the spacing in Registry Editor but the issue reoccurs. Any ideas on how to resolve the issue?

My Machine Specs:
Motherboard: Haswell H81M-Plus
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790
RAM: 16GB DDR3
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
PSU: Super Flower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold"
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (10.0) Home 64-bit (Build 19045)

 

[Cyberat_88]

Desktop Icon spacing. Have any themes or have "themes may modify desktop icons" ON ?

 

[gorgon777]

I have tried to switch off 'themes may modify desktop' but the issue has reoccured. There are no themes being used.

 

[Cyberat_88]

Then it's some form of customized spacing, that's where you set the space between icons on desktop.
Have you tried sorting them ?

 

[gorgon777]

Yes have tried to rearrange them and auto-arrange them with Snap to Grid option, but while the icons are spaced out they dont make a difference. I can manually move the icons closer but the text is still all on one line and doesnt wrap the text as youd expect.

 

[MrLitschel]

Here is the solution to the Icon Spacing problem:

Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor

Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on

Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

In the right hand pane, what values are set for IconSpacing and VerticalIconSpacing

By default, those values should be this minus value: -1128

If that is not the value, double click each item to change the value

 

[gorgon777]

Here is the solution to the Icon Spacing problem:

Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor

Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on

Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

In the right hand pane, what values are set for IconSpacing and VerticalIconSpacing

By default, those values should be this minus value: -1128

If that is not the value, double click each item to change the value

The values for those two entries on my PC were set to -1130. I've now set them to -1128 but it doesnt make any noticeable difference. Just restarting seems to get them to reset back to normal spacing.

 

[hedwar2011]

I had something similar to this happen when the zoom got messed up in my settings for my GPU.

1. Right-click on the Desktop and go to Display Settings
2. Scroll down to Scale and Layout and see what the option for Change the size of text, apps, and other items is set to. Default is 100%.

You can also try adjusting the Zoom on the desktop by holding down CTRL on your keyboard and either rolling your mouse wheel.