Desktop Icon Movement?

[Ross M. Greenberg]

From time to time my Vista Ultimate will crash, usually when installing some software. I reboot and everything is OK -- except for my desktop icons: desktop icons are all messed up. Is there a way/method of locking down the icons on my desktop without losing the ability to create new ones?

Ross

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Ross.

You are focusing on the wrong problem, aren't you? If your Vista doesn't
"crash" (whatever YOU mean by that - your definition may be different from
mine), then you don't have the icon movement problem. My Vista doesn't
crash, even when installing software. I think you should focus on fixing
that problem first.

The icons might have to move whenever the screen switches to a different
resolution - and then again when it switches back. This problem is not new
to Vista; it has happened in every Windows version that I can recall. I've
been running Windows since 1.0 and, yes, earlier Windows crashed quite
often. :>( Vista was the most stable yet, and Windows 7, even in beta, is
just as stable. Now, my icons usually survive a side-trip to Safe Mode.

Years ago I used a shareware program to remember icon locations and put them
back after a resolution change. I can't recall the name or programmer; even
if I could, that program might not work with today's monitors and graphics
setups.

Good luck. If you find such a program, please let us know. But you might
not need it if you can figure out why your Vista crashes.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 7000

 

[FiOS Dave]

The program you are looking for is called Iconoid. It is a freebie and
I have been using it for years. It is a lifesaver when it comes to restoring
your desktop icon positions. It has many useful features, and should work
with windows 7, as well, although I haven't copied it over to that system
yet.

You can get the latest version here;

http://www.sillysot.com/

Dave

 

[Ross M. Greenberg]

Unfortunately, I'm quite used to what "crash" means. Perhaps I'm just running/installing flaky software. The end result is that I must reboot and that when I do the icons on my desktop are all messed up. I too, by the way, have found Vista to be particularly stable when compared with earlier Windows versions.

Ross

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Ross.

Can you tell us the name of your "flaky software"?

If we can help you cure - or work around - its flakiness, then your icon
movement problem should disappear. It still seems that your focus is on the
wrong problem.

When your computer "crashes", do you get a BSOD? What does it say?
(Verbatim!)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 7000

 

[Charles Douglas Wehner]

Microsoft always blame other people.

There are major bugs in Vista that I have traced through to the BIOS
level, or to interrupt returns from BIOS. Function 66, subfunction 2
gave MINUS over a billion bytes as a file-size when one of my machine-
code programs misbehaved. The tool I used to find the file-size was an
old-established and stable image manipulator. So my own research
software and the commercial software were both "LIED TO" by the Vista
BIOS.

Microsoft knows that Vista will not allow "Updates", "Service Packs"
and "Software" to install correctly. So they write "Updates" to try to
make Updates possible, to fix the bug that interferes with "Software".

They are trying to drive a car without an engine to fetch an engine:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...eriod=&sortCriteria=date&nr=20&DisplayLang=en

I will divide that URL up, so that if it does not all arrive as a
single "string", you can string it together, and rebuild it:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx
?freetext=Updates&productID=8D7DD8D7-1CA6-4632-BAEF-E7C0750ED02E
&categoryId=&period=&sortCriteria=date&nr=20&DisplayLang=en

NONE OF THE UPDATES WORK. Obviously, they were never tested. At the
moment, Microsoft has tried the impossible 49 times, and is still
unaware that it is impossible.

Only AFTER "Updates" work will these "Updates" work.

Charles Douglas Wehner

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Ross.

If you've seen posts from "Charles Douglas Wehner" before, then you know
that he is a troll. His specialty is bashing Microsoft and then leading the
conversation off into wild hinterlands. Best to ignore him and get back to
your main goal: Find out WHY your "flaky software" (your phrase, not mine)
is causing your computer to "crash".

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 7000
<SNIP>

 

[Charles Douglas Wehner]

The Internet is, as Eric Schmidt of Google said, a cesspool.

Imbeciles like R.C. White seek out people to target, and to start
flame wars. The Web is full of them.

These things are quite inappropriate on a thread such as this.

He has no knowledge. He is just being malicious.

Here is a quote from the URL I gave you:
-------------------------------------
QUOTE
System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista (KB947821) [August
2008]

This tool is being offered because an inconsistency was found in the
Windows servicing store which may prevent the successful installation
of future updates, service packs, and software.
UNQUOTE
------------------------------------

There are many, many more of this kind of thing.

It is exactly what I am talking about. It is an "Update" that is said
to address an "inconsistency" which "may" prevent the successful
installation of future "Updates".

The "inconsistency" stops this "Update" from being successfully
installed.

So this "Update" does not allow "future Updates" to install.

Note that without this tool, "Updates", "Service Packs" and "software"
do not install successfully.

So the flaky software is NOT flaky. It is software that has BECOME
flaky due to the inability of Vista to install it. It becomes flaky
within the machine, but is good software on the original disk.

I have found this to be true over and over again, with the best
software on the best machines, but with Vista.

The first thing to do is to take the machine completely off line. See
if it "configures" the "Updates". If it does, that means it is acting
as if going onto the Internet without this being possible.

The "configuring of Updates" is always accompanied by a crash.
Sometimes it reboots, sometimes it switches the machine completely
off. I have evidence that this crash is due to the fake "configuring"
spraying random bytes at random into memory.

So if you have this experience, SWITCH THE UPDATES OFF. You will be
spared the inconvenience of the unexpected crashes, and due to the
spraying of random bytes being stopped, the system will be more
stable.

It took five days before it "noticed" that I had asked for the
"Updates" to be disabled. Then it behaved better.

As regards software, DO NOT USE THE INSTALLATION WIZARD. The software
that I use is old, tried and tested. I create a directory, and simply
put the EXE and all its accompanying parts, like DLLs in. Then I click
on the EXE icon. Usually it runs.

A brand new Lexmark printer, installed with the "Wizard" on a brand
new Vista computer, connected itself to COM1. However, neither the
printer nor the computer had a COM1 facility. What is worse, it
altered various inventories.

Putting software in, rather than installing, will prevent Vista
digging too deep into the system and getting things wrong.

Here is Chris Crum's report on why the White House will not use Vista
(it is BUGGY, CLUNKY, ANNOYING)
The Internet is, as Eric Schmidt of Google said, a cesspool.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/01/23/addressing-the-state-of-the-white-house-technology

As for the Anorak who "knows it all", he has been chasing me around
the Internet. I have come across hundreds of thousands of people with
Vista problems, and tried to share experience of dealing with it with,
one or two. This malicious individual keeps popping up to lower the
tone of the discussion.

Charles Douglas Wehner