Have you ever wondered why XP desktop icons have a background color, but now one can change it just by clicking a checkbox and turn it to a usual transparent background. Here are the two versions next to each other.

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For setting the transparent background on the icons, open System Properties through Control Panel or by right-clicking My Computer and then choose Properties from the menu.

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From this dialog box, click Advanced tab, and after that the Settings option underneath Performance section.

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And then navigate down to the option for a checkbox for “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”. Confirm to check this box to enable transparent backgrounds icons.

I wonder why it’s not “Enable Transparent Icons On the Desktop”.

Update:

If this setting doesn’t work, one also needs to check these extra settings.

• Make sure that a web page is not displayed as background. To confirm it, right-click the desktop and select Properties option. Choose Customize desktop from Desktop tab, after that choose the Web tab from the desktop items window and disable any web pages that are shown.

• Confirm that the High Contrast is not chosen under Accessibility \ Display Options in the Control Panel.