Can't make Desktop Icons transparent

Unable to make desktop icons transparent. I cleared the checked box for (use drop shadows for icons labels on desktop) but know change. Also was running a microsoft performance tool and a item it was supposed to save said it could not create: (C:\WINDOWS\System32|drivers\etc\host file) needless to say I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to computers. Any help figuring out why can't make icon transparent or what the other item means appreciated.
Don

 

icons

Tony:
Thanks reply, but done that and still doesn't make any difference.
Don

 

If it is the same problem I am thinking of, the desktop background is one colour, the background of the icons is an another colour.

If you have selected a picture as the background, it may be too complicated for the display. If you want to make the picture very compatible, look in the folder Windows -> Web -> Wallpaper and check the properties of the pictures there. If you edit a copy of the photo to about 800 X 600 pixels and save it as a .jpg at around 60-80 Kb or a .bmp file at around 1.5 Mb in that folder, it will appear as one of the photos you can select as a standard background. If the photo is portrait and you cannot make it landscape, you may need to use Center and not Stretch in the Desktop tab of Display Properties.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307855/en-us

Matt

 

Thanks Matt:
I'll give that a try. The background is a photo I made as a desktop, and the icons have letters in white on a blue square background around them. That's what I would like to make transparent. Like I said disabling or unchecking the box for "use drop shadow for icon labels" didn't change anything.
Don
Don