Windows 10: Desktop icon spacing

I'm used to tweaking the values in HKCU\ControlPanel\Desktop\WindowsMetrics\Icon Spacing in previous version of Windows, but it appears to work a bit differently in Win10.

Changing the Icon Spacing from the default of -1560 to, say -2000, gives more room for the icon title to spread out, but doesn't actually move the icons. e.g. I have some icons with long titles wrapped on two lines. By increasing the value to -2000 the titles now sit on a long single line, but the icons haven't moved. In fact, the icon titles now will overlap if I have two long-titled icons next to each other.

Is there a new way to actually spread out the spacing of the icons themselves?

{Edited to add:]

Oh, for heavens sake! I had done several Icon Spacing tweaks in the registry and rebooted several times but nothing changed except the titles expanding wider. Then, I decide to move some icons around. Poof! The entire desktop grid adjusted the icon spacing, and rearranged the icons! Go figure. *really

:)

 

Desktop

I cant use the last line of Desktop icons. This leads to a ugly space between the taskbar and the lowest desktop icons.

Is there a way that I can get the wasted space down there filled with icons?

Thx

 

Windows 10 Desktop Icon Spacing Messed Up

Does anyone know how to fix this?

 

So, this sounds "too easy"---I tried everything I could think of with the rather "wide" default grid placement in Win.10... Need to make it SLIGHTLY smaller/tighter, AND I need to SHIFT the entire grid slightly to the right, as my icons "bleed off the page" I've also tried redesignating the monitor settings to a lower value than the default 1080p... but that's not working properly either! Anybody have a good "fix" for this, without digging around in registry edits, or command-line? They both scare the HELL out of me.... Is there a utility app available that will do the trick, either by MicroSloth, or by a 3rd party?

 

wpcoe,

Thanks for spotting that REALLY stupid bug in Win10's icon spacing! And, of course, for posting about it!

Can't believe I'd ever have spotted it myself - I was repeatedly increasing the spacing, logging out, logging in and all that was happening was the text of icons was overlapping more and more as each increase was made.

D'oh!

For the record, on laptops running 8/8.1, I tend to set the IconSpacing to -1800 and the Vertical to -1600, and it looks nice. The same now applies to Win10.

Apart from this bug, what I can't understand, is whatever possessed Microsoft to move the icon spacing changes away from the desktop itself and into the Windows registry (or, rather, leave the registry as the only way of changing them).

Mind you, I can't understand why the self-delusionals at Microsoft launched Win8 at all in the state it was in, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that no one has had the time to put this right again for Win10 (too much else to fix?).


Cheers

Bob C