How to use Icon Shepherd

If you are asking why do my desktop icons keep moving, you came to the right place: Icon Shepherd helps keep the desktop icons in order.

First, after you have arranged the desktop icons the way you like, click the Icon Shepherd icon in the taskbar notification area (or double-click its desktop icon) and use the Remember icons now - Save as command to save the current layout of the desktop icons for use in the future.

Then, next time Windows messes up your desktop icons, use the Restore icons command on the Icon Shepherd menu to move the icons back into their positions as they were when you saved them. Yes, it's that easy!

You can save as many icon layouts as you want. You can find this capability especially useful if you often switch monitors or change the screen resolution. You could save several icon layouts, one for each screen configuration that you use, and then restore the appropriate layout from the menu, when needed.

If you rearrange the desktop icons frequently, instead of remembering to use the Save As command after each rearrangement, you can make Icon Shepherd remember the changes of the icon positions automatically for you. To do that, use the Options command on the Icon Shepherd menu, and select the Remember icons automatically when icons are moved option:

When this option is enabled, you don't need to do anything to "use" Icon Shepherd, it just runs half-asleep quietly in the background, waking up only when the icons on your desktop are moved. When that happens, it memorizes and keeps track of the icon layouts as they are changing.

If you find the desktop icons messed up every time you log in to Windows, you can find another option of Icon Sheperd useful: Restore icons automatically when Windows starts. You can select to restore the icons from a specific layout you saved, or from the last layout that you used.

If you need to delete some of the stored icon layouts, or rename them, or change their order, you can use the Manage Icon Layouts screen to do all that:

You can also use this screen to export the icon layouts into a file to back it up or save for later, or to transfer the layouts to a new computer.

Finally, if you have a large computer network, you will find the Icon Shepherd Administrator's Kit of great help.

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