Why is my desktop suddenly huge?

Use Windows settings to change the size of and customize your icons

by Madalina Dinita

Madalina has been a Windows fan ever since she got her hands on her first Windows XP computer. She is interested in all things technology, especially emerging technologies... read more

Updated on March 13, 2022

Reviewed by Vlad Turiceanu

Passionate about technology, Windows, and everything that has a power button, he spent most of his time developing new skills and learning more about the tech world. Coming... read more

• Many Windows 10 users reported that icons in their UI appear larger than they should.
• This is a common problem and can be fixed if you update your drivers accordingly.
• Be sure to customize the font size on your desktop and other places in Windows 10.
• You should also change the scaling settings by following our step-by-step guide below.

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The first thing many users notice about Windows 10 soon after they install it, is that desktop icons are too large.

Big icons are useful for people who have certain eye conditions, but most users find large icons quite annoying.

Fortunately, this is an issue that can easily be fixed by customizing the display settings.

Here’s how users describe this issue:

I upgraded to win10 today, and EVERYTHING on my screen is so large…

The resolution is ok, and in display settings the scaling appears to be at 100%, yet the windows and icon are still too big. In win 8.1 the 100% scaling was great, it made everything smaller yet not too small and I sort of liked it, but in Win10 the 100% scaling is way bigger. How can I fix this?

Before customizing the settings for the desktop and taskbar icons, make sure you’re using the right display resolution, and you’re running the latest graphics driver.

Why are my desktop icons so big?

When Windows updates itself, it can cause different miscommunications between the old settings and the new ones, as well as between drivers.

For example, your scaling settings might have been changed or misinterpreted by the system, thus you will need to go back and reset your preferences as you would want them to be.

Icons are an integral part of the Windows interface, but it seems that some users are having issues with their icons. Speaking of issues, these are some of the most common problems that users encountered:

• Desktop icons are huge Windows 10 – If you’re having problems with the size of desktop icons, you can fix the problem simply by changing their size from the View menu.
• Windows 10 everything is huge – If everything on your screen is huge, it’s possible that you don’t have the necessary drivers installed. Simply visit your graphics card manufacturer and download the latest drivers for your device.
• Windows 10 icons very large, too enlarged, got bigger – According to users, sometimes their icons can become very large. If that’s the case, you can try to change their size simply by pressing Ctrl and scrolling your mouse wheel.
• Windows 10 text and icons too big – Sometimes this issue can occur due to your scaling settings. If that’s the case, try adjusting your scaling settings and check if that helps.
• Windows 10 Taskbar icons too big – If your Taskbar icons are too big, you can change their size simply by modifying your Taskbar settings.
• Icons too big on second monitor – Fortunately, the solutions we have listed below for your native monitor will be applicable to any secondary monitor as well.
• Icons chnage their position – Don’t hesitate to refer to our other articles where you can learn what to do if your Windows 10/11 icons don’t stay in place and solve this issue for good.

In order to quickly fix the problem of icons that are too big on your Windows 10 desktop, you need to follow the solutions and steps below, so keep reading.

What can I do if the icons are too big on my Windows 10 PC?

1. Change the icon size

1. Right-click on your desktop.
2. Select View.
3. Choose the icon size you want.
   
   

This is one of the quickest solutions you’ll ever have on hand to get rid of the problem of overly large icons on your Windows 10 PC desktop, so be sure not to miss it.

2. Update your drivers

If your Windows 10 icons are too big, the issue might be your drivers. If your graphics card drivers are out of date, you’ll be limited to a certain resolution and your icons will appear bigger.

However, you can easily fix this problem by updating your graphics card driver, and no method is much faster at doing so than with a driver updater.

Some of the most common Windows errors and bugs are a result of old or incompatible drivers. The lack of an up-to-date system can lead to lag, system errors or even BSoDs.
To avoid these types of problems, you can use an automatic tool that will find, download, and install the right driver version on your Windows PC in just a couple of clicks, and we strongly recommend DriverFix. Here’s how to do it:

1. Download and install DriverFix.
2. Launch the application.
3. Wait for DriverFix to detect all your faulty drivers.
4. The software will now show you all the drivers that have issues, and you just need to select the ones you’d liked fixed.
5. Wait for DriverFix to download and install the newest drivers.
6. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

DriverFix

Drivers will no longer create any problems if you download and use this powerful software today.

Disclaimer: this program needs to be upgraded from the free version in order to perform some specific actions.

3. Change your resolution

1. Right-click on your desktop, and select Display Settings.
   
   
2. Set the recommended resolution.
   
   

Some users have reported that by changing the resolution to the recommended one in the display settings, they got rid of the problem of too large desktop icons, so be sure to try it out now.

4. Install the missing updates

1. Press the Windows Key + I to open the Settings app.
2. Now navigate to the Update & Security section.
   
   
3. Click on the Check for updates button.
   
   

If your icons are too big, the issue might be the missing updates. Sometimes certain glitches can appear on Windows 10 and that can cause this and many other issues to appear.

However, you can easily fix most of those issues simply by installing the missing updates.

In most cases, your operating system will automatically install the missing updates, but sometimes you can miss an update or two.

If any updates are available, Windows 10 will download them automatically in the background and install them once you restart your PC. Once your PC is up-to-date, check if the problem is resolved.

Also, if you don’t know which is the latest version of your OS, you can find out from our constantly updated guide, so be sure to check it out.

5. Change the size of Taskbar icons

1. Right-click on the Taskbar, and select Taskbar settings.
   
   
2. Now enable Use small taskbar buttons.
   
   

It also helps you a lot if you go into the taskbar settings, and choose to use small taskbar buttons. Make sure you don’t miss this simple solution!

6. Personalize the font size on the desktop

1. Go to the Settings app, navigate to System, and select Advanced display settings.
2. Choose Advanced sizing of text and other items.
3. Select Set a custom scaling level.
   
   
   
   
4. Click on Custom sizing option, and choose Scale to this percentage of normal size.
   
   
5. Click OK, and restart your PC.
6. Go back to the Settings app, and navigate to System.
7. On the Advanced display settings select Advanced sizing of text and other items.
8. Select Change only the text size, and personalize the settings.
   
   
   
   
9. Restart your PC.

By making the correct adjustments in the Advanced display settings section, you can fix the problem with large desktop icons, so try it out now!

7. Use keyboard shortcuts

Changing the icon size is rather simple, and if your icons are too big on Windows 10, you might be able to solve this problem simply by changing their size.

Some PC issues are hard to tackle, especially when it comes to corrupted repositories or missing Windows files. If you are having troubles fixing an error, your system may be partially broken.
We recommend installing Restoro, a tool that will scan your machine and identify what the fault is.
Click here to download and start repairing.

To change the icon size, simply press and hold the Ctrl key and scroll with the mouse wheel.

Alternatively, you can use Ctrl and dash (-) key to make your icons smaller. If you are a laptop user and you don’t have a mouse, you can simply press the Ctrl key and perform the pinching gesture on your touchpad.

All these methods should make your icons smaller, so feel free to try any of them.

In our experience, the simplest and the best way to change the size of your icons is to use Ctrl + mouse wheel, so be sure to try this method first.

Everything you need to know about using keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10 is in our detailed guide, so be sure to take a closer look.

8. Rollback the older graphics driver

1. Press the Windows Key + X, and select Device Manager from the list.
   
2. Locate your graphics card, and double-click it to open its Properties.
   
   
3. Go to the Driver tab, and click Roll Back Driver.
   
   

If your icons are too big on Windows 10, the issue might be caused by your graphics driver.

According to users, they managed to fix the problem simply by rolling back their graphics driver to the older version.

After doing that, your driver will be reverted to the older version. If the problem is resolved, it means that the driver was causing this issue.

It’s worth mentioning that Windows 10 will automatically update your drivers, so in order to prevent this issue from reappearing, you’ll need to prevent Windows from updating your graphics card driver.

To see how to do that, be sure to check our guide on how to prevent driver updates on Windows 10.

If you don’t have the Roll Back option available, you can try installing the older driver manually. This is rather simple and you can do it by following these steps:

1. Open Device Manager, locate your display adapter, right-click it, and choose to Update driver.
   
   
2. Choose to Browse my computer for driver software.
   
   
3. Now select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
   
   
4. Locate the older driver and install it.

After doing that, the issue should be completely resolved.

If rolling back to the older driver doesn’t help, you can always uninstall your driver and use the default driver instead.

To do that, just select the Uninstall option in Device Manager and restart your PC. After doing that, your PC will install the default driver once it restarts.

9. Change your scaling settings

1. Press the Windows Key + I to open the Settings app.
2. Now navigate to the System section.
   
   
3. Set the scaling to 125%, and log out of your PC.
4. Now log back in and set scaling to 100%.
5. You need to log out and log back in.

According to users, your Windows 10 icons can become too big due to your scaling settings. Sometimes this problem can occur due to a certain bug with Windows.

After doing that, the problem with large icons should be resolved and everything should start working again.

This is a simple workaround, and it works great according to users, so we advise you to try it out.

What to do if Windows 11 desktop icons are too wide?

Windows 11 is similar to Windows 10 as far as settings go, and changing icon size makes no exception:

1. Right-click on your desktop.
2. Select View.
3. Pick the size of icons you want.
   

As you can see in the screenshot, you can also use hotkeys. For small icons: Ctrl+Shift+4 , for larger icons Ctrl+Shift+3, and for large icons Ctrl+Shift+4.

We have written extensively in our detailed guide on Windows 10 resolution issue, so be sure to take a closer look.

Problems with large icons can be annoying, but we hope that you fixed them by using one of our solutions. If you have more suggestions or other questions, please access the comments section below.

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