File Explorer keep resetting desktop.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alan Moorman
  • Start date Start date
A

Alan Moorman

Windows XP home, with all updates, so it is just Windows XP.


In the last few months a new thing has been happening:

Once in a while, when I close a file explorer window, it causes the
desktop to redraw: all the icons disappear, then they come back in
generic icon mode, then the gradually are redrawn with the particular
icon graphic each one used to have. After several seconds of all
this, the desktop looks normal, again.

This may happen once every 5 or 6 times I close a file explorer
window.

On rarer occasion, instead of just rebuilding the icons, the screen
blanks for an instant, and then rebuilds, including the tray
contents, as if the system is doing a partial reboot.

Any ideas what might be causing this? And how to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any constructive thoughts!

Alan Moorman
 
Alan said:
Windows XP home, with all updates, so it is just Windows XP.


In the last few months a new thing has been happening:

Once in a while, when I close a file explorer window, it causes the
desktop to redraw: all the icons disappear, then they come back in
generic icon mode, then the gradually are redrawn with the particular
icon graphic each one used to have. After several seconds of all
this, the desktop looks normal, again.

This may happen once every 5 or 6 times I close a file explorer
window.

On rarer occasion, instead of just rebuilding the icons, the screen
blanks for an instant, and then rebuilds, including the tray
contents, as if the system is doing a partial reboot.

Any ideas what might be causing this? And how to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any constructive thoughts!

Alan Moorman
Click to expand...

I've also noticed the redraw, but nowhere nearly as slow as yours. Just
a kind of blink (and if you blink, you miss it. :-)) IOW, it seems to be
a normal action. Presumably, it's the registry being rewritten to
reflect changes in file names/locations/etc. If so, it may be that your
registry has become bloated with irrelevant, no-longer-valid links and keys.

So, run a good registry cleaner. I use Registry Mechanic, so I can
recommend that one. It hasn't caused any funny behaviour after cleaning,
either. The fist scan took a long, long time, and resulted in some
300(!) items that were no longer valid. Now I run it once a week. There
are other registry cleaners, so you should google on that phrase, and
ask for people's opinions about the other ones.

You should also scan for spyware, trojans, etc etc etc. Those things can
slow the system down something fierce.
 
See if renaming the Iconcache.db file helps. Click Start/Run and type:

%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\

Select the file named "IconCache.db" (hidden file) and rename it (to
OldIconCache.db).

Restart Windows.

If that does not help, try increasing the Icon cache size (Max size allowed
is 4096)

Icons Randomly Change to Different Icons:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q132668/

Registry Tip for Increasing Icon Cache:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=56

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Windows XP home, with all updates, so it is just Windows XP.


In the last few months a new thing has been happening:

Once in a while, when I close a file explorer window, it causes the
desktop to redraw: all the icons disappear, then they come back in
generic icon mode, then the gradually are redrawn with the particular
icon graphic each one used to have. After several seconds of all
this, the desktop looks normal, again.

This may happen once every 5 or 6 times I close a file explorer
window.

On rarer occasion, instead of just rebuilding the icons, the screen
blanks for an instant, and then rebuilds, including the tray
contents, as if the system is doing a partial reboot.

Any ideas what might be causing this? And how to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any constructive thoughts!

Alan Moorman
 
Back
Top