Have you ever noticed that sometimes Windows highlights the icons on the desktop with a dotted line? It’s really annoying and definitely doesn’t look good with Aero’s neat and sleek interface in Windows 7. Here’s what I mean:
Grrr! I’m one of those picky Windows users who like to keep things in a certain way, and I just hate that dotted border that appears on my desktop icons! What’s really annoying is that after it appears, if you press a letter on your keyboard and one of the desktop icons starts with that letter, then focus goes to that icon, fills it in, and highlights the border with a dashed line.
So how do you get rid of this? Well, you can’t always. It’s just part of Windows 7 and isn’t going anywhere. Fortunately, this is not a problem in Windows 10.
However, there is a way to get rid of it and prevent it from coming back if you don’t do certain things. The first thing to understand is that Windows has keyboard focus and mouse / trackpad focus. When you only have mouse / trackpad focus, it looks like a square on a light background.
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Here are some ways to get rid of borders in icons. Note that the main point is that if you are using the keyboard to move around the desktop, a dashed line will appear. This is how Windows works, so you can use your mouse to navigate Windows and find your location. If you’re still having trouble getting rid of it or it keeps coming back, leave a comment here and we’ll try to help.
Method 1. Use the Tab key
Method 1 – Use the TAB key
This seems to work pretty well. Just press the Tab key one or more times and the dotted line will disappear. You must select the icon again with the mouse and there should be no dotted border on it.
Method 2: Refresh your desktop
The second method – updating the desktop
If you right click on the desktop, you will see an “Refresh” option. Click on it and the dotted line will disappear.
Method 3. Double click to open
Method 3 – Double click to open
One thing that worked for me was to simply double-click on the desktop icon and open the app / file or whatever. When you return to the desktop, it will return to the filled color window instead of the dotted line.
Method 4: Resizing the icon
Fourth method – change the icon size
Apparently resizing the icon from one size to normal also solves the problem. You can right-click, select View, then change it to, for example, Large and then back to Medium.
Method 5. Restart your computer
Fifth method – restart your computer
As a last resort, you may have to restart your computer. This usually throws things off and the dotted border doesn’t appear. Again, if you use your keyboard to navigate your desktop at any time, the border will reappear.
Unfortunately, these are all different methods I could find! There is really nothing you can do about it. If you find another solution, let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
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