Icons of the same size appearing differently

hi HK. I'm Greg, an installation specialist, 10 year Windows MVP, and Volunteer Guardian Moderator here to help you.

Have you made any modifications to WIndows at all? Do you use Registry Cleaners or Optimizer suites? Are you using any Scaling in Settings > System > Display?

The primary fixes for icon issues are Rebuild Cache and Update or change to better Display driver:

1) Rebuild the icon cache following this tutorial:
https://www.howtogeek.com/232779/how-to-rebuild...

2) Update the Display driver from the PC or Display adapter maker's Support Downloads web page for your exact model number, HP Serial Number or Dell Service Tag - from the sticker on the PC.

While there check also for newer chipset, BIOS/UEFI firmware (very important), network, sound, USB3 and other drivers, comparing to the ones presently installed in Device Manager reached by right clicking the Start Menu.

If this doesn't give you the latest or ideal driver for what you need, compare it to the driver offered by the Intel driver update Utility here: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/...
or the Nvidia Update utility here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=e...
or the AMD autodect utility here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/P...

For Display issues one fix that is working is to Roll back or Uninstall the Driver on the Display Device > Driver tab, restart PC to reinstall driver.

You can also try older drivers in Device Manager > Display device > Driver tab > Update Driver > Browse > Let Me Pick.

Then you will know you've tried everything in addition to Windows Update drivers.

3) Go over this checklist to make sure the install is set up correctly, optimized for best performance, and any needed repairs get done: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

Start with Step 4 to turn off Startup freeloaders which can conflict and cause issues, then Step 7 to check for infection the most thorough way, then step 10 to check for damaged System Files, and also Step 16 to test a new Local Admin account. Then continue with the other steps to go over your install most thoroughly.

4) If nothing else helps you can run a Repair Install by installing the Media Creation Tool and choosing from it to Upgrade Now. This reinstalls Windows in about an hour while saving your files, apps and most settings, solves many problems while also bringing it up to the latest version 1903 which you need anyway and by the most stable method. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/m....

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you will wait to choose if I solved your problem, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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Hi Greg, thank you for your response.

I tried several things on the list including updating my display drivers, and deleting the iconcache files. So far it hasn't helped. I decided not to mess with updating my bios since everything else on my pc works fine and my suspicion is that the problem is something else.

Perhaps this will shed a little more light on the issue..

I managed to, at least temporarily, fix the issue with the oldtv icons by changing what type of shortcut they are. They were a shortcut to a specific url but I changed them to be a shortcut to chrome that opens that specific url. I linked them to the exact same ico file and they appear correctly. I also tried re creating a url shortcut and re linking it to the ico file but it appeared small again. I don't know why that would be.

I don't know if it only affects certain shortcut/program types but I will start looking into that. I do know that it affects icons that are not customized as well and that sometimes it "fixes" itself. I have fixed some of them by deleting the small icon shortcut and creating a new shortcut from the original exe but that doesn't usually work. Sometimes simply moving a shortcut into or out of a folder will change it back. Very weird.

Hey HK -

Have you tried saving the icon you prefer and then adding it as a custom built desktop icon using one of the methods given here:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13631/customize...
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-creat...

I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

The method I use to create custom icons involves building a png file in paint.net or adobe illustrator, converting it into an ico file using a program called "IconDeveloper" by Stardock, and then using the properties>change icon dialog box, of whatever icon I am changing, to link the custom ico to the icon. It works fine and the icon comes out looking normal but sometimes it changes to a small icon inside of a box instead of the full size icon that it started with.

My point is it may be in the way you save the icon.

Save the finished icon and then save it using one of the methods to save Custom created icon I linked, which have no reports of shrinkage that I've ever seen.

Greg and Hustleking -

This is a long-time problem - I've seen discussions about shrinking icons going back to Windows 7 and the earliest days of Windows 10. However, your back-and-forth gave me a new clue: I suspect this is a problem between Windows and Chrome - that is, when opening a URL Shortcut with a custom icon from the desktop via Chrome.

My father's computer has the same problem where the URL shortcut custom icons change size for no apparent reason. He uses Chrome as his default browser. I created those icons for him the same way I make them for myself. I use Firefox - no problems with my custom icons on URL shortcuts.

I perform regular driver updates and other maintenance on both computers, so it's not likely that one is suffering from bad drivers (for example) and the other isn't.

Hustleking's work-around seems simpler than the multiple steps involved with resetting the icon cache, etc. I'm going to try that on my Dad's computer and cross my fingers. If that doesn't work, I'll follow the steps Greg outlined.

Thank you both for the ideas.