LeeTutor's Doing Windows
Windows Tips Categories
Icons Tips
AUTO-ARRANGING ICONS
If you like arranging icons on your desktop in
some sort of logical (to you) manner, you may someday
encounter the following problem: your icons all of a
sudden are arranged in columns on the left-hand side of
your desktop, and no matter what you do in trying to move
them somewhere else, they always end up zipping back to
that left side of the screen! What has happened is that
you have selected "Auto Arrange" from the
"Arrange Icons" menu contained on the context
menu for your desktop.
To get back control of your placing of icons, do the
following: right-click on any empty area of the desktop,
select Arrange Icons from the context menu which pops up.
At this time another menu cascades down, and you will
find that there is a check mark next to Auto Arrange. If
you click on Auto Arrange, that will undo this selection
as well as remove the check mark. And now you have full
control of where you place your desktop icons again... I
couldn't find any Windows help on auto arranging icons,
but how it appears to work is this: the icons are
arranged in columns starting at the left of the screen.
If you try to drag one of these icons somewhere else, it
will be moved to the bottom position on the rightmost
column, and all the other icons "behind" it are
shifted forward.