All of a sudden when I was using my computer the background behind the desktop icons went to solid color.

But, I cant seem to turn it off. No matter how many times I disable all visual styles, reload the theme, uncheck and recheck the shadows option in system. The background wont go away. Another thing I noticed is that how solid color is filling in the shadow of the folder icon (and shadows on any other icons), normally it shouldnt do that. I really dont know what could be causing it. Anyone have any ideas?

Did you try this setting?

Click on START, right-click on MY COMPUTER and select PROPERTIES, click
on the ADVANCED tab, click on the SETTINGS button under "Performance".
When that box pops up, scroll to the bottom and un-check the option that
says "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop".

Originally Posted by jephree

Did you try this setting?

Click on START, right-click on MY COMPUTER and select PROPERTIES, click
on the ADVANCED tab, click on the SETTINGS button under "Performance".
When that box pops up, scroll to the bottom and un-check the option that
says "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop".

Originally Posted by leafo

uncheck and recheck the shadows option in system

Sorry if I was unclear. Yes I have.

More ideas here:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...rch+this+group

Hah, Thanks for that link. I was browsing through google groups before... pretty much using the same search terms but didnt find anything. So I just clicked a random result and there was a guy with the same issues. Just right clicked on desktop, locked web items then unlocked and it was fixed. Did the same thing and it worked


EDIT:
Okay, nevermind about what I said, It only works when using a BMP wallpaper.. meaning for some random reason it started to treat my JPG wallpaper as a web item and hence the alpha bending wouldnt work.. I guess I can convert the image to bmp but still.. quit strange that it would just change like that.

found these posts in the following thread:

I've narrowed the icon problem down to .jpg files as backgrounds. .bmp files
don't exhibit this behavior. I did try resetting the theme back to the
default XP theme and it does not help. The customize desktop thing only
happens to my account (Admin privileges XP Pro), everything else is
system-wide. Any other suggestions?

1. Start/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Performance/Settings/ Visual
Effects/"Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"


Also:


Right click the desktop and select Arrange Icons by. Towards the bottom of
that list, uncheck "Lock web items on the desktop."


2. Go to Start/Run and type in: regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll


If the above doesn't help and should, run the edit on line 4:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm


3. This is generally caused by having third party desktop enhancers
installed. Try line 285
(right hand side): http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm


--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/


All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)


Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...cf67c79a2e9558

And then the guy replied:

Believe it or not none of this worked. The drop shadows were already
enabled, the only time that they are not in effect is if I have a .jpg as a
background image, .bmp files are fine. The lock web items was already
unchecked. I ran the regsvr command and it said it succeeded. Ran and added
the reg edits from Line 4 and 285 of your site. I still have these
annoyances. Any other ideas?

Sadly, I have the same problem :/
(I have also scanned for viruses and spyware, etc. Nothing there)

Im fine with bitmaps though.

Guess I should have read the whole thread

Sorry