desktop icons changed...can't change them back

[Winnipegger]

I rebooted my PC and when it arrived at the desktop, many
of the desktop icons that were shortcuts, changed to the
Recycle Bin icon.

After going into the properties of the icons, and
selecting the proper icon, the shortcut changes very
briefly to the correct icon, then changes right back to
the Recycle Bin icon.

Running spyware removable software didn't help. Rebooting
hasn't helped.

When creating a new shortcut on the desktop, the shortcut
uses the Recycle Bin icon.

This isn't a life and death situation but is pretty
annoying.

 

[Dan]

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 01:30:39 -0700, "Winnipegger"
| I rebooted my PC and when it arrived at the desktop, many
| of the desktop icons that were shortcuts, changed to the
| Recycle Bin icon.

Sounds like the same situation as in a previous post, so to repeat....
The problem is almost certainly that your system has too many to fit
into the default Windows icon cache. Deleting the cache, or using the
Tweakui repair function may temporarily fix this, but the fix will be
more permanent if you also increase the cache size.

You can increase and purge the icon cache using the free ActivIcons
utility from http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_ai.html

1-- go to its "Desktop Controls" screen and increase the icon cache
size to at least 2048, and then

2-- rebuild the icon cache. The options for rebuilding the cache are
on 2 small round buttons at the lower/right corner. Shut down any
programs running in the background, then click the round button
farthest to the lower/right corner (your system will reboot, and the
icon cache will be cleaned out).

Or you can increase the cache size by manually inserting a key into
the registry at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer

here you need to add the key "Max Cached Icons" with a value of 2048
or higher.




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