When I first got XP Home, the "color" of the desktop background behind the
icon text was no color at all. It was transparent and that area of the
wallpaper could be seen instead. Somewhere along the line it wouldn't do it
anymore. I can chose a color under Display, Appearance, Advanced.

I've already been on the MS website to try to figure it out but I couldn't.
This article says to clear the drop shadows box.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;305117
I tried this too: It says to check it.
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-137

Would anyone know how this novice could get it to go back to the
transparency?

Thanks,
Bonnie

Hit Windows logo key + Pause/Break to take you to "System Properties". Click
the "Advanced" tab and in the "Performance" menu at the top, click the
"Settings" button. Checkmark the option: "Use drop shadows for icon labels on
the desktop".

You can experiment with the other options if you wish such as to disable the
fade & slide menus into view, disable mouse pointer shadows etc.

Thanks Scrubber. I tried that and it didn't fix the problem. I posted on the
windowsxp.general list and someone gave me steps to follow. Your suggestion
was the first. Then he said to make sure the desktop wasn't locked (right
click desktop, arrange icons, and make sure lock web items is NOT checked.)
That fixed it.
I appreciate your response though.

Bonnie

"scrubber" <scrubber@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BEDAEF2F-6A10-4D01-86EF-6C9F86053699@microsoft.com...
> Hit Windows logo key + Pause/Break to take you to "System Properties".
> Click
> the "Advanced" tab and in the "Performance" menu at the top, click the
> "Settings" button. Checkmark the option: "Use drop shadows for icon labels
> on
> the desktop".
>
> You can experiment with the other options if you wish such as to disable
> the
> fade & slide menus into view, disable mouse pointer shadows etc.