Windows XP Desktop icons - ideas?

Factual Questions
#1

I have a laptop that I use everywhere. Sometimes I have it connected to a monitor that uses the old standard aspect ratio. Sometimes I use the laptop screen, which (of course) is the newer “wide” aspect ratio.

This means that every time I switch between laptop and monitor, my XP desktop icons run loose all over the place! :smack:

Any ideas on how to prevent this?

When I use the monitor, I use a 120 dpi 1600x1200 32-bit color resolution; the monitor has a 19" diagonal (11.5x 15.25, roughly). The laptop is 8"x13" with a 15" diagonal.

#2

You can use different logons, and therefore desktops, for each resolution. You could also use different hardware profiles for each setup. I sometimes use the latter method when I intend to connect to my laptop through Remote Desktop and don’t wish to run it full screen.

#3

Try DImanager. It allows you to create profiles for different resolutions and save your desktop icon positions for each.

#4

You could just move your icons to the upper-left corner of the desktop. Things up there should be safe from getting rearranged.

Also, icons on your desktop slow things down a bit. If you have to have icons there, right-click the desktop and create folders for them, make categories like Work, Home, Games, whatever.

#5

I have a similar problem and can add another recommendation for DIManager.

Its main downfall is that it doesn’t work well if you sometimes use extra monitors plugged in to your laptop. If you have your icons set up around the laptop’s screen you’ll need to turn off any extra displays before saving / loading profiles or everything will be offset.

#6

I wasn’t sure that hardware profiles would do it, and I can’t use different logons because it creates other problems.