When installing Windows 7/8/10 by default, you may have noticed a few things right away, like the large desktop icons and the large taskbar! Personally, I’m not a huge fan of huge icons on my computer!
And for me, a large taskbar is a waste of precious property. I love the smallest possible taskbar without auto-hiding, a feature that I’m not a fan of either.
This is how my desktop and taskbar looked on Windows when first installed:
Too big! In this article, I will show you how to reduce the size of the desktop and taskbar icons in Windows 7/8/10.
Use small icons on the Windows taskbar
The options are slightly different in Windows 7 and Windows 10. First, here’s how to do it in Windows 7: Right-click an empty space on the taskbar and select Properties.
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On the taskbar tab, select the Use small icons check box. Then click OK.
Here’s a screenshot of the new smaller taskbar compared to the larger desktop icons.
Much better! Of course, you can clear this checkbox if you prefer large icons on the taskbar. In Windows 10, right-click on the taskbar and select Taskbar Options.
This will take you to a new settings screen in Windows 10. You should see an option to “Use small taskbar buttons”. Be sure to press the switch to turn it on.
Reduce the size of desktop icons in Windows 7/8/10
Okay, how about those big desktop icons? This is also very easy to change. The same goes for Windows 7/8/10. Just right click anywhere on your desktop and select View. In the menu, you can choose the size of the icons.
I prefer small icons to fit more on the desktop and see more wallpaper in the background. The large icons are absolutely huge and are probably only useful for vision problems.
As you can see, now I am using small icons on the desktop and in the taskbar! Excellent! However, this is not even the easiest way to resize desktop icons. If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, all you have to do is click once on any icon on the desktop to select it, then hold down the CTRL key and scroll the mouse up or down.
When you hold down the CTRL key and scroll up, the desktop icons will gradually enlarge, and when you scroll down, they will shrink. What’s nice about this method is that you have a lot more size options than just large, medium, and small.
Of course, for this to work, you need a mouse with a scroll wheel. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to comment. Enjoy!
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