Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (
More info?)
Did you check to see if it was something as simple as the monitor resolution
or color depth?
Click Start> Control Panel> Appearance and Themes> Display
Next click the 'Settings' Tab.
Drag the 'Screen Resolution' slider one click to the right and click
'apply'. Change the color quality to a higher setting.
Preferable 32 bit (or whatever the highest is).
"Brian Bischof" <Brian@NoSpamBischofSystems.com> wrote in message
news:OkG4ix5EFHA.464@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Hi Ramesh,
>
> You seem to be a wealth of information. However, my system still eludes
> you.
> Running the TweakUI makes the icons blink on and off (obviously resetting
> them) but the resolution is still bad. Delete the IconCache didn't have
> any
> effect. In fact, with the litte Norton AV icon when the system boots up it
> draws a red X over it until its fully loaded. That little red X is just a
> bunch of tiny boxes connected by their corners. It looks like a line drawn
> by a computer back in the 80s when you had really bad monitors. Plus, when
> I
> open some programs that use icons I see that their resolution is the same.
> However, the desktop icons are very clean with smooth rounding. Anyway, I
> think I'll have to put on my schedule next month to do a rebuild of the
> system. It seems like such a trivial problem, but now that I see it
> effecting the icons in the software I use then it's time to bite the
> bullet
> and wipe the drive.
>
> Thanks for your worthy efforts.
>
> Brian
>
>
>
> "Ramesh, MS-MVP" <ramesh@online.mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:OMrNsfyEFHA.2232@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> Brian,
>>
>> Use the "Repair icons" feature in Tweak UI.
>>
>> TweakUI v2.00 for Windows XP/XP MCE [564 KB].
>>
>
http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe
>>
>> TweakUI v2.10 for Windows XP SP1/XP MCE/2003 [147 KB].
>>
>
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/a/fca6767b-9ed9-45a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe
>>
>> Sometimes, Tweak UI corrupts the icons by assigning incorrect value to
> Shell
>> Icon BPP. If that happens, see:
>>
>> Icons get corrupted after using Tweak UI "Rebuild Icons" function:
>>
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/repairicons.htm
>>
>> Another option is to delete the iconcache.db file present in this folder:
>>
>> %Userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data
>>
>> --
>> Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
>> Windows XP Shell/User
>>
http://windowsxp.mvps.org
>>
>>
>> "Brian Bischof" <Brian@NoSpamBischofSystems.com> wrote in message
>> news:ucLyTprEFHA.2176@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>> > Yes, I did that too! Nothing seems to work. How frustrating...
>> >
>> >
>> > "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> wrote in message
>> > news:uHFNVZrEFHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> >> Did you set both to 32?
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
>> >> (Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
>> >> "Brian Bischof" <Brian@NoSpamBischofSystems.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:e4aYrcnEFHA.2600@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> >> >I looked up that reg key and it was already at 16. However, the one
>> >> >right
>> >> > below it, Shell Icon Size, was at 32 so I changed it to 16. After
>> >> > rebooting
>> >> > my toolbar icons had not changes, but my desktop icons were now half
>> > their
>> >> > size! Bummer. So I changed it back to 32. Thanks anyway.
>> >> >
>> >> > Brian
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > "Ramesh, MS-MVP" <ramesh@online.mvps.org> wrote in message
>> >> > news:ejGCLhXEFHA.1564@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> >> >> Brian,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
>> >> >> [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
>> >> >> In the right-pane, double-click Shell Icon BPP and set it's value
>> >> >> to
>> >> >> 16
>> >> >> Close Registry Editor.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> --
>> >> >> Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
>> >> >> Windows XP Shell/User
>> >> >>
http://windowsxp.mvps.org
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "Brian Bischof" <Brian@NoSpamBischofSystems.com> wrote in message
>> >> >> news:uZug%230UEFHA.392@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> >> >> > Well, that was definitely a worthy effort. I had not tried that
>> >> >> > idea.
>> >> >> > Unfortunately it didn't work. The thing is that the Desktop icons
>> >> >> > are
>> >> >> > still
>> >> >> > very smooth and clean looking. It's just the toolbar icons have
> low
>> >> >> > resolution. Very strange how its just this one aspect of the
>> >> >> > graphics
>> >> > that
>> >> >> > aren't working. I would be that there is a registry setting that
>> >> >> > differentiates the toolbar icons from the desktop icons. Don't
> know.
>> >> > Still
>> >> >> > hoping someone comes across an answer for this one.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Brian
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > "Bill Martin -- (Remove NOSPAM from address)"
>> >> > <wylie@earthNOSPAMlink.net>
>> >> >> > wrote in message news:%23EO4MLSEFHA.3992@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>> >> >> >> Brian Bischof wrote:
>> >> >> >> > The icons in the toolbar lost their resolution. They are very
>> > blocky
>> >> >> > now.
>> >> >> >> > Don't know how it happened! I googled this and all I could
>> >> >> >> > find
>> > were
>> >> >> > people
>> >> >> >> > telling you how to make your icons smaller. This isn't my
> problem
>> >> >> >> > b/c
>> >> >> > they
>> >> >> >> > didn't change size at all. I went ahead and tried these ideas
>> > anyway
>> >> >> >> > (choosing Small Icons as well as going to Advanced Settings
>> >> >> >> > for
>> > the
>> >> >> >> > desktop). Nothing works. The weird thing is that some programs
>> > have
>> >> >> > icons in
>> >> >> >> > their dropdown menus and I just noticed that the resolution on
>> > these
>> >> >> >> > are
>> >> >> > bad
>> >> >> >> > also. Somehow there must be some type of setting which
> determines
>> >> >> >> > the
>> >> >> > icon
>> >> >> >> > resolution. Again, this is not a size problem - strictly
>> > resolution.
>> >> >> >> > Its
>> >> >> >> > like what happens when you look at a low resolution picture on
>> > zoom.
>> >> >> >> > The
>> >> >> >> > edges go from being smooth to being blocky.
>> >> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> > Any ideas?
>> >> >> >> >
>> >> >> >> > Thanks.
>> >> >> >> ------------------------------
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> I had a similar problem after installing an update once -- or
> maybe
>> > it
>> >> >> >> was new software? Anyhow, my problem turned out to be simply
> that
>> > the
>> >> >> >> installation had lowered the bits of color resolution on the
>> > display.
>> >> >> >> That made some of the icons look very squirrelly similar to what
>> >> >> >> you're
>> >> >> >> describing.
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Right click on an empty spot on your desk top then select
>> >> >> >> Properties>Settings and make sure your screen resolution *and*
>> >> >> >> color
>> >> >> >> quality are set to what they should be. I was surprised at the
>> >> >> >> difference it made on my machine when the color quality was
> reduced
>> >> > from
>> >> >> >> 32 bits to 16.
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Good luck...
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Bill
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>
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