Q: How may I remove the colored squares that are behind the text under my desktop icons? I want may wallpaper to show through.

• If you are using Windows 95, 98, ME, NT or 2000, you can make the icon labels transparent using our ActivIcons utility...
  1. in ActivIcons, go to the Interface screen;
  2. place a mark in the Transparent checkbox which is next to the Set desktop icon text background color to option.
  3. Note that ActivIcons must be running to set the transparency. You can have ActivIcons automatically load when you start your system by going to the settings on its Interface screen.
      
  However, Windows XP has its own way of making the text backgrounds transparent. To do this, you must...
  1. right-click the desktop;
  2. choose "Properties";
  3. go to the "Desktop" tab;
  4. click the "Customize Desktop" button;
  5. go to the "Web" tab and disable both options;
  6. run Windows Explorer;
  7. right-click on "My Computer";
  8. choose "Properties";
  9. go to the "Advanced" tab;
  10. click the Settings button under the "Performance" section;
  11. checkmark the "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop" option.
       
  ActivIcons can still be used to make the boxes transparent if you don't want the drop-shadow option. You do need to turn off the Web items, as well as the drop shadow option in order for it to work, however.