WindowsIconSpacing

While it is possible to change the distance between the icons on your desktop without a third-party utility, the process isn’t exactly novice-friendly, as it involves using the Registry Editor.

WindowsIconSpacing is an open-source application that can greatly simplify things, as it allows you to perform the modifications from an intuitive GUI. It is quite easy to use, and it doesn’t even need to be installed.

When launching the application for the first time, you will be greeted by a simplistic UI that displays two sliders, one for controlling horizontal spacing and one for vertical spacing; pretty straightforward, and you can load the current values at any time.

Once you have changed the default settings, you can click “Apply” to send them to the Windows Registry. However, note that a reboot will be required before the changes are visible.

Of course, you won’t get to see a preview of how your icons will look on your desktop with the new settings, so it may take a few tries before you can get everything just right.

Also, make sure you remember the default values, as the application cannot revert to them automatically once you have restarted your PC.

One of the advantages of WindowsIconSpacing is that there is no need to install anything on your computer before running it, so it can be easily deployed on any PC where you wish to make the modifications.

This is a rudimentary utility that does the job it was designed for without too much fuss. It greatly simplifies the task of altering desktop icons spacing, but a trial-and-error approach is still required for you to get the desired results.