OK, you probably know that you can right-click an empty space on your desktop, and when you select Properties from the resulting menu, that you can adjust the look of Windows. But a whole range of items which you would think might be listed here, are in fact listed on the System Properties.

To quickly open System Properties, hold down the WIN Key () and press the Pause/Break key.

Now select the Advanced tab, and under the Performance header, press the Settings button. The Performance Options should open on the Visual Effects tab. Here you can make general selections such as Let Windows choose what's best for my computer, Adjust for best appearance, and Adjust for best performance, or choose your own (custom) settings.

There's a whole range to select from, but I want to mention one specifically: Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop. If this setting is unselected, icons shown on the desktop will not have a transparent text field.