Win7: Keeping desktop icons in place

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I have a fresh install of W7 64 Bit. I have a bunch of desktop icons and I’d like them to stay in the rows in which I place them. I’ve never had this problem in XP, but every time I reboot, W7 will move the icons to other places on the desktop. I set the auto grid and auto arrange both on and off, and nothing seems to affect this. They just move where they will. Any way to keep them in one place?

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What type of user account (Admin or Standard) are you using?

It appears that your settings are not being saved when you shut down Windows.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I use a program called IconRestorer which keeps all but 4 of my desktop icons ( I have 164) in place. I have tried other programs, but IconRestorer is by far the best. To get the most out of it I made a small donation to get the Supporters Edition, which is better than the free version.

Why the same 4 of my desktop icons move every time I restart Windows is beyond me, but they don’t move far, always to the same place, and it only takes a second to move them back where they belong.

Here is the link to the publisher’s home page: http://fsl.sytes.net/

Hope this works for you.

Regards,
Roy

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+1 for IconRestorer. I have only 66 icons, but it takes perfect care of them. As far as I know, there is no standard procedure (in Windows 7) to achieve the same.

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I installed the IconRestorer. I’ll see how that works. Does it hold the icons in place, automatically restore them to the last saved configuration, or do I have to click on the icon to put my desktop like I saved it?

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Oh, and I’m an Admin. DaveA.

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Under Personalization (Right click desktop and choose Personalization), select Change Desktop Icons on left side of window. This opens the Desktop Icons Settings box. Is it possible you have selected Allow themes to change desktop icons? This would cause the icons to change.

This might be a shot in the dark, but I also use Win 7 64 Bit (Ultimate version) and have no such problem.

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I did have that checked (by default). Does that change the icon for the theme (as I would suppose) or change them positionally?

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Also, I very nice desktop icon program is Stardock’s Fences. You might want to take a look at this for a way to organize your desktop.
Fences Link

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OOwoo. I like the Fences page. Stardock, as I recall, has a good reputation. (Window Blinds or something like that?) Is it stable with W7 64 bit?

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I installed Fences. So far, I just love it. Is there any value to buying the full bodied version?

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This doesn’t affect my gadgets display, does it? I lost a gadget….

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I just use ‘sort by type’; they don’t move around, and I get used to where they are.

More often than not, I open apps by clicking something from the Recent Items folder or Documents folder. The apps I use most often line up on the Start Menu. I’ve just never been big on desktop icons, and usually opt out of putting icons on the desktop when I install.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I’ve only got a dozen icons on my desktop as well and 4 of those are for Sleep, Logoff, Shutdown and Restart. The others are the usual Recycle bin, My Computer, Network, DVD Drive, etc. They seem to stay exactly where I put them. None of these are theme dependent. Shortcuts to my apps I include on a Toolbar on the Taskbar.

The Shortcuts folder is in My Documents on my D Drive. I just right click the Taskbar and choose to create a new Toolbar, then point to the Shortcuts folder. To add new entries simply right click on the Shortcuts Toolbar and choose Open, then drag another app shortcut and drop it. If I right click on the open toolbar I can choose to sort alphabetically which seems to work best for me.

This gives my desktop a much cleaner look, less clutter. That way I can actually see what’s showing on the desktop, not a bunch of icons. I worked with a guy who’s desktop was so cluttered with icons he was forever searching for what he wanted. Spent more time doing that than actually working.

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Thanks Ted. I’m still learning about W7. I only have about a dozen or so shortcuts myself + some desktop folders containing useful but infrequently used tools and apps. My actual desktop shortcuts are to apps that I use the most often and some are linked to keyboard shortcuts too. Your idea may provide value as well. I’ll try that when i get home.

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try stardock.com and load “fences”… You have control, then your icons are in different categories,”fences”

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I use Stardock Fences on my Win7; works fine. I don’t know about the 64 bit version, but it might be worth a look.
Tice

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Windows 7 has a tendency to rearrange your desktop icons upon reboot. This is highly annoying but can be cured.
The reason why Windows 7 rearranges the icons on your desktop is because it “forgets” the layout that your icons had. Every time you reboot or shut down your computer, your icons are basically saved to a database which gives their exact positions on screen. When Windows cannot read these positions, it gets confused and basically just resorts to rearranging the entire list of icons on your desktop
The “Refresh Method”
One tip to keep your icons in the right order is to right-click and then press “Refresh” on the menu that appears. This will refresh the icons and should save the configuration of your desktop. This has proven to be very successful for some people

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I like Iconoid — seems to work with both 32- and 64-bit Win7 Home Premium for me. Uses a right-click menu to memorize and restore icon positions.

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I’ve found that Desktop Icon Save and Restore: http://www.midiox.com/desktoprestore.htm “]http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/desktoprestore.htm [/url]works well on my Windows 7 64 bit system.
Another good tool (but not free) is Desktop Icon Toy: http://www.idesksoft.com/. This one lets you show/hide icons and/or text, shakes the icons when you hover over them, hide them when you leave the desktop and has many other features. It also lets you change the color of the font on the icon text.

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