Why can't I enable drop shadows on my Windows XP desktop icons?

I do not understand this.

I've been helping my grandfather maintain his old Dell for quite a while now, and every now and then something inexplicable will go wrong. The most recent issue is that the desktop icons refuse to have a drop shadow, regardless of the fact that I have it enabled under System - Advanced - Performance - Settings.

I've tried:

Disabling and re-enabling it
Disabling and re-enabling ALL the options under System - Advanced - Performance - Settings
Switching backgrounds

According to System Restore he hasn't installed any new programs lately, and his computer is virus-free. Everything should be fine.

This one's blowing my mind. I've got nothing. Any ideas?

eckza

Posted 2011-04-19T00:37:30.970

Reputation: 964

Answers

I can't remember for sure...but I believe that happened (once) when I installed google desktop...and from the looks of it you have that installed?

I might try uninstalling google desktop

mjrider

Posted 2011-04-19T00:37:30.970

Reputation: 529

That might be a good idea, anyway - I doubt that he uses it. – eckza – 2011-04-19T13:26:09.363

Right click the desktop and click Properties, then go to the Desktop tab and click Customise Desktop. Under the Web tab does it have 'Lock desktop items' ticked?

Desktop web settings

If so, untick that and the drop shadows should hopefully be restored.

Gaff

Posted 2011-04-19T00:37:30.970

Reputation: 16 863

Sounds promising. I'll look into it when I head over there next. – eckza – 2011-04-19T13:25:28.583