How to change icon size in Vista

Posted on July 8, 2008 at 5:34 am

Do you find the size of desktop icons in Vista too large? For some strange reason, all of the icons are huge! I like things small, so I quickly found a way to make the icons much smaller.

There are actually two ways you can go about reducing the size of the desktop icons, either via the desktop or by using your mouse, if it has a scroll wheel. I found the second method to be the fastest and easiest.

Firstly, go ahead and minimize all programs or windows so that you only see your desktop. Then simply press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard and scroll the mouse wheel up or down. That’s it! You can make the icons really small or really big:

Image Source: CraigBailey

If you don’t have a mouse with a scroll wheel on it, you can change the size of the desktop icons in Vista manually by simply right-clicking on the desktop, choosing View and then picking an icon size.

If you choose Classic Icons, that will change the size of all the icons to the default size in Windows XP. That’s my preferred choice.

The scrolling mouse method will allow you to adjust the size of the icons to many more intermediary sizes, rather than just Large, Medium, or Classic. Enjoy!

» Filed Under Windows Vista

Comments

21 Responses to “How to change icon size in Vista”

Beth Hoy said on : July 9th, 2008 at 12:06 am

Hi Aseem: Can’t check my reader without seeing what you and your contributors have come up with now! Online Tech Tips is my favorite blog, you all do amazing work!

San J said on : July 26th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Thanks you.
It Works….

Safi said on : August 12th, 2008 at 11:52 am

Thanks man. It works for me.

nadia said on : August 24th, 2008 at 5:28 am

thanks so much for the change icon information, i spent about 20mins searching my computer to do it and gave up then did a search ..found your site and did it in less than 5 seconds..thanks again!

gmuvis said on : August 27th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

thank you!!!

liz said on : September 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am

awesome. it’s these little things that make such a difference. thanks!!

Lakshmi Narayana said on : September 26th, 2008 at 12:16 am

thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob said on : November 16th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Mine had to be on turned to classic first to do that, but it does work. Well, the first time I had to change it. Now it just changes by itself. I am just saying this, in case it doesn’t work at first, you might have to change that yourself.

hian said on : February 24th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

Cool….. thanks.

RBrewer said on : April 7th, 2009 at 1:51 am

THANKS!

I was in the middle of a full malware scan, getting ready to do a virus scan, and check for video card drivers – to try and figure out how my icons got huge all of a sudden (with no other display properties affected) – when I googled “icon sizes” on my other PC………..WHEW, you saved me a ton of grief. Thanks again!

Netterski said on : June 26th, 2009 at 12:27 am

Thanks … the scroll method didn’t work for me, but choosing Classic did. I can’t seem to find any answers to any questions when I look in the “official” help areas for any Microsoft product.

Tony said on : July 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 am

We had this problem for quite a time, Then we decided to google it. Thanks!

Robin said on : August 10th, 2009 at 7:52 am

Cool tips man! Thanks

Roger said on : August 12th, 2009 at 8:33 am

For some reason I cannot change the icon size using the wheel mouse. I know the wheel works as i can scroll this window. Any suggestions how to get the wheel to work?

Ryan said on : September 7th, 2009 at 6:18 pm

Thank you so much for the helpful information. My mom screwed up my icons and I didn’t think I would ever get them back to normal.

Jason said on : November 20th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

Awesome. That had been bugging since I first got Vista!

Troy said on : December 14th, 2009 at 3:46 pm

THANK YOU! I just got Windows 7 and hated that my icons were huge, your tip helped. It’s the small things like this that make a BIG difference! That’s right Windows 7 users, the same technique works as it does for Vista.

jassi said on : December 18th, 2009 at 9:38 pm

fantastic job…….dude…keep it up! Those super large icons in Vista were really annoying me!

con tolentino said on : January 6th, 2010 at 7:23 pm

i love it…it took me 1 whole just to find out how to change the icons on my desktop…this site is really helpful…i also learned more things by just looking on this site…thanks

Kevin said on : January 12th, 2010 at 7:42 am

I was trying to adjust the size of my icons in Windows and now with these tips I will not forget anymore!

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July 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm