This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Every few days, all the icons on my Win7 desktop rearrange themselves. Usually they move to the left edge of the screen. I laboriously move all the icons back to where I like them, and 3-10 days later, they all shift left again. I've found no pattern or event that might cause this -- but it's very annoying!
I've got Win7 build 7100 running on a Dell Latitude D830 laptop. Totally standard hardware and very little non-Microsoft software. In short, it's a pretty clean system.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
To supplement Reyas.M.I.'s answer, Under View is the option to select the icon size, Auto arrange icons and Align icons to grid. The Sort by option includes Name, Size, Item type and Date modified. I suggest you check both View and Sort by.
Corrine, Microsoft MVP (Consumer Security). This posting is provided "AS IS" without warranty, and confers no rights.
Check whether "Auto Arrange" checked. To check this, right click on desktop and select "Arrange icons by".
I hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards, Reyas...
Thanks! I've been racking my brain trying to remember "Iconoid".
This is a very helpful little program (be sure to use the correct version, i.e. x64 or x86).
It isn't a cure for my place changing icons, but it does move your icons back to the places they belong, so you can get on with your work.
Pay close attention to what you click on in the Iconoid interface and you'll have no trouble at all.
Ran into this years ago with older Windows operating system. There was a program to run to save icon positions. Just got a new laptop with Windows 7. Had it 3 weeks and this is the second time it has happened. Autoarrange and sort are not checked. logged out and the next morning the icons were rearranged. It might be updates.
Visionary1usa has a point. If you follow the link in my post above, you'll find that this is a software defect that Microsoft know about, and can't be bothered fixing. As my handle suggests, I'm an ancient old fart. I was there supporting accounting software while Microsoft rode to success on the back of IBM's Mickey Mouse PCs of the early eighties. The PC had PC-DOZE bundled by default.
A common catch cry was "You can't go wrong buying IBM!"
Then almost overnight, everything changed. By 1990 IBM was in serious trouble as the big customers began to abandon their mainframes for midrange systems.
The situation in the computer market place today is analogous. Microsoft appears to have lost the plot completely. They seem to have more graphic artists on their staff than programmers. Steve Ballmer's attempt to turn the company into Google brought us Vista, Word 2007, Windows 8, and cost Steve his job.
Sooner or later the big customers who have always paid Microsoft's bills will get sick of the Microsoft "UI tax"* every three years, and Microsoft's continual neglect.
* Every three or four years, MS Office and the operating systems get completely new User Interfaces (UI)'s. Think Office 2007, Vista, and Windoze 8. These changes disenfranchise millions of knowledge workers around the world. How much money goes down the drain, in businesses and organizations as people relearn how to use what should be reliable, straight-forward tools for them to get their jobs done?
Tip of the day. If you foolishly decide to upgrade to Window 10, look very carefully at the second or third screen - the one that says "Express Setup". In the bottom left of the screen is a little hyperlink that says "Customize". Click it. Take a few moments to carefully read the next screen before deciding whether you want your PC to be turned into the same sort of advertising channel your television set already is, or whether you would rather just be able to get on with your work.
