Desktop icons move by themselves - what to do?

2023 Author: Charles Carter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 02:05

Modern computers allow you to customize the style of the operating system to your liking. Each user can create icons, change Windows themes, zoom in or out on controls, and even place shortcuts however they want. But sometimes all the adjustments go astray. Quite often, users complain that their desktop icons move on their own. How to fix this situation? Why do such crashes happen at all? It's not that hard to figure it all out.

Causes of problems

Do desktop icons move by themselves? This can happen for various reasons. And the user will have to take into account each of them.

In general, desktop shortcuts start moving on their own after rebooting the OS due to the fact that the computer uses old or downgraded display settings on the screen. And this can happen due to several reasons:

• presence of viruses on the computer;
• killed or notset/incorrectly specified OS settings;
• if there are "aggressive" programs on the computer.

Now I understand why the desktop icons move by themselves. And how to fix the situation in this or that case?

Viruses and bugs

Let's start with the most difficult scenario. This is a situation in which viruses cause shortcuts on the desktop to move.

Recommended in this case:

1. Download and install a program to detect computer spyware. SpyHunter fits perfectly.
2. Check your PC for spyware and remove them.
3. Run a deep scan of all hard drive partitions with an antivirus program.
4. Treat potential threats.
5. Things that did not respond to treatment should be removed or placed in "quarantine".

You can restart your computer after placing the shortcuts the way the user wants. If everything is done correctly, you can not worry about changing the settings for Windows.

"Aggressive" programs

It is possible that the desktop icons are moving after the reboot due to the impact of "aggressive" software. These are usually programs that run and install in the background.

The only solution to the problem is to uninstall these applications. For example, you can act like this:

1. Open "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Uninstall Programs".
2. Find "harmful" software and isolate it.
3. Right click and select the "Delete" option.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen.

As soon as the "aggressive" programs are removed, shortcuts will stop moving independently.

And how else can you help the user if the icons on the desktop move by themselves?

OS settings

You can set certain parameters of the operating system. With their help, users are able to adjust the display of shortcuts.

If the icons on the desktop move by themselves, you can do the following:

1. Place the cursor on a free area of the desktop.
2. Press the right mouse button.
3. Move the cursor over the line "View".
4. Set certain options for displaying icons.
5. Press the left mouse button anywhere on the desktop.

Here are the parameters that will help you cope with the task:

1. "Align to grid" - option aligns all labels "to grid".
2. "Organize automatically" - aligns shortcuts to the left side of the desktop.
3. If you select "Organize", the user will be able to set options for organizing shortcuts on the desktop. For example, "By creation date".

Important: if the "Align to grid" and "Auto arrange" checkboxes are not checked, the user will be able to place labels as he wants, on anydistance.

We hope you understand how to behave if the icons on the desktop move by themselves. These instructions will help you troubleshoot very quickly.