I've got no clue how this got changed on my computer but I did have the transparent background for the text with my desktop icons and now its a blinding blue and despite the fact that I used to know how to change it the setting seems to have disappeared. Any help?

You will need to right click on the desktop and choose properties, now you are in the Display Properties go to Advanced and then choose the "icon" setting in the drop down menu you see there.

This should get you in the right place to correct your problem.