Windows Vista, 7: Turn off the font shadow of the desktop icons

The labeling of the desktop symbols in Windows 7 and Vista contains a shadow that makes the appearance more spatial. You can turn off this font shadow if the text in front of the background image is more difficult to read.

Deactivate drop shadow via registry

You deactivate the shadows with a registry entry.

• To do this, type »regedit« in the search field of the start menu and press the enter key. Confirm the user account control with »Next« or »Yes«.
• Then navigate to the key »HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced«. Find the DWORD value »ListviewShadow« in the right part of the window and open it with a double click for editing.
• Change its "value" to "0" and confirm this with "OK". Close the registry. This change is only effective after a restart.

Remove drop shadows for visual effects

This setting is related to the transparency of the font. Therefore, you can also change this with the visual effects of the system.

• To do this, click on "System and Security" in the Control Panel or on "System and Maintenance" under Vista and then on "System".
• Then follow the link »Advanced system settings«.
• In the following dialog, switch to the "Advanced" tab and click on "Settings" in the "Performance" area above.
• In the "Visual Effects" tab, you now deactivate the "Transparent background for symbol fonts on the desktop" option.
• Confirm the change one after the other with »Apply« and »OK«. In this case, a restart is no longer necessary.

Note:

Depending on the background image used, you may need the font shadow, because otherwise the font can no longer be recognized in some areas with similar colors in the background.