Why might desktop icons revert?

[jayzzz]

A couple of times over the last week or so, my desktop icon pictures that I selected (from icon files in My Pictures) for folders and shortcuts have reverted to the manilla folder or default Internet shortcut icons. In Properties, the selections are gone. It happened to most, but not all folders, as well as most, but not all Internet shortcuts.

Also, a couple of days ago, my computer did its first ever ScanDisk (or similarly named disk-checker) spontaneously when I booted, and the messages strongly recommended I allow it to do its thing, which I did. There was no error message when it was done, but it just doesn't seem as stable as it was.

I've got XP Home, SP1 in a Dell Dimensions 2350 with IE6 & Firefox. Nothing shows up in AdAware, Spybot S&D or HijackThis. All protections in SpywareBlaster & Spybot S&D are still enabled and WinPatrol has not informed me of any changes to my system. System restore doesn't return the desktop to its previous appearance.

I expanded the icon cache with a tweak in RegistryRobot about a year ago and do tend to end up with a lot of icons on my desktop. Is it possible to have too many? If so, what would be the maximum recommended?

[ronjor]

Do you have clean unused icons unchecked? It may not have anything to do with your problem.

XP help file:

To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display, desktop, customize.

The Desktop Cleanup Wizard displays a list of the desktop icons that have not been used for 60 days or more, enabling you to remove those icons that you don't want on your desktop. You can retrieve icons you have removed by opening the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on your desktop.
Clear the Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days check box if you don't want the wizard to run automatically every two months.
You can remove an individual desktop icon by right-clicking the icon and then clicking Delete.
To add or remove the icons for My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, or Internet Explorer, select or clear those items under Desktop icons.

[Cochise]

Good one Ron.....Desk-top Clean-up can work wonders.....



Cochise,

[jayzzz]

No, I don't have it checked. I kinda liked being able to see things on the desktop...much is in folders, but I guess those have become extensive. I have mostly Internet shortcuts in desktop folders & my own documents...not enough of either programs or Internet shortcuts out on the desktop to be excessive.

Whatever is happening is intermittently changing the appearance of folders within My Pictures, too, at least in the Thumbnail view. Those where I could see 4 of the images from within are now as if the folders became opaque, and images no longer show.

Thanks for helping me relocate where I'd reset the icons for My Computer, My Documents, Recycle Bin, etc. It's a start...

[ronjor]

jayzzz

Are you using more than one account?

Do this one and see what you come up with.

sfc /scannow

How to use scannow sfc...

The main reason for using this utility is when you suspect there may be a problem with a Windows XP system file.

Perhaps you get a dialog box appear informing you of a problem with a .dll file, or your program will just not load! It is therefore worth checking to see if there are any corrupt system files using scannow sfc.

To do this simply go to the Run box on the Start Menu and type in:

sfc /scannow

This command will immediately initiate the Windows File Protection service to scan all protected files and verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it finds a problem.

The following should appear to give an indication of how long the process is taking.

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

[jayzzz]

I'm using one account and the others are disabled. I did as you suggested, and it looks like that may have been what was needed. The computer asked for the XP Home CD to get files for the DLL cache. Now the folders in My Pictures look like they did before, so I'm hoping that took care of it.

Thank you very much! I'd never seen or heard of scannow sfc before, but will certainly keep it in mind for future malfunctions.

[ronjor]

I'm hoping too jayzzz.