Desktop Icons won't delete.

[Guest]

Hi there,
after i delete or transfer a file from the desktop, the icon remains there
however is unselectable as the file has been deleted.

icons are then stacked upon eachother and you can't see what your clicking.

i have tried restarting my computer, etc but it has remained for a few days.

thanks.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, J K.

The easy answer is to just drag the icon to the Recycle Bin. Or right-click
on the icon and click Delete; Vista will remind you that deleting the icon
does not delete the application, but that's what you want, isn't it?

If you tell us the name of the program or icon, we might have some specific
advice. You said "a file"; if you really mean a file, not a program, then
the steps might be different, depending on what kind of file it is. A few
icons have special significance in Vista and must be removed in a different
way.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[Guest]

Hi there, thanks for that, but that wasn't the problem. i must not have
expressed myself correctly.
there are some icons on my desktop (some that i have deleted and some that i
have not), such as 'recycle' 'computer' 'network' 'microsoft works',
2xfolders & internet explorer that have appeared on my desktop however you
cannot click on them (left or right click), nor can you drag/open, etc. they
merely seem to be apart of the desktop bakground rather than actual
folders/programs on the desktop.

hence there is, for example: 2 copies of internet explorer, one that i can
click on & one that i cannot. (same goes for all the other icons).

thanks,
jack.

 

[dean-dean]

The Desktop is actually a glorified interface for two folders:

C:\Users\(Your Name)\Desktop
and
C:\Users\Public\Desktop (which is hidden).

If you have the same file in each folder, they will both show up on your
Desktop. The Public Desktop should be owned by the Administrator and
C:\Users\(Your Name)\Desktop should be owned by the user.

If you are the Administrator, can you navigate to these folders using
Windows Explorer and delete them there? If your context menu is gone (which
is another issue), can you select one, and use Organize > Delete? If the
files aren't in those folders, but they are on your desktop, try going to
Control Panel > Personalization and then click on Display Settings. Change
the Colors to a lower setting (e.g., from Highest to Medium). Then do the
same again, and reset Colors back to the way it was originally.

If that doesn't work, try deleting the (hidden) IconCache.db file under
C:\Users\(Your Name)\AppData\Local\ and restart your computer. A new one
will be built automatically.