No.2 Annoyance with Vista, Customized Internet Shortcut Icons ocassionally disappear

[Warren]

Every once and a while, I lose all my custom Internet shortcut icons and get
replaced with the generic "e" on white page icon.

Win98 never did that, why does Vista let this happen ? This drives me
crazy.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Warren,

Usually this happens (and this would include IE in Win98) when the Temporary
Internet Files are flushed that contain the .ico file the shortcut was
using.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Warren]

I should say that I've made both the custom icon and the internet shortcut
"Read Only", but that doesn't stop the icons from disappearing on the
shortcut. The only solution I've found is to rename the icon file and
reconfigure shortcut with "Change Icon", which is a lot of work. I should
mention that when I look at the properties of a corrupted internet shortcut,
it still shows the custom icon on the top left corner, but that icon will
not disply on destop or folder view until I reconfigure the icon with a
renamed icon file.

 

[Warren]

I'm using custom icons from a designated folder. The .ico files are always
there.

 

[Rick Rogers]

I see, then obviously the above would not be applicable.

Do you notice any pattern to it? Like after a certain event? A consistent
period of time? After a reboot?

Have you disabled prefetch or any other basic function?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Warren]

Well it seems to occur after an emergency shutdown, like when the system
hangs and the only way to kill the machine is hold the power button in. I
usually run chkdsk after such an event and have never found any problems,
except of course that the custom shortcut icons are all gone. Doesn't
always occur after a catastrophic system event, nor does it require a
catastrophic event to happen before the custom icons disappear.

 

[Drew Tognola]

Warren,

This happens with desktop shortcuts from the internet. My solution was to
hold the 'Ctrl' key down and then roll your mouse wheel to shrink the
desktop icons until your chosen icon's view returns. Took me a year to
figure this out. For some reason larger desktop icons periodically revert to
IE's default icon.

Drew

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Have you ever tried simply restarting again after one of these recovery
restarts? Generally, this kind of blunt force can cause the system to revert
some defaults. Restarting again may reestablish your settings.

I'd be more concerned about why it's hanging. A frozen system without a blue
screen/stop error is usually a hardware problem, and unless you address it,
it's not going to get better.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Warren]

Well the computer hung up because my virus program didn't like the shortcuts
in the start menu. Don't ask me why, but it sat there for half an hour
before I pulled the plug.

 

[Warren]

Yeah you are correct, the classic sized icon always shows. Unfortunately at
the higher screen resolutions, the classic icon size is a little too small.
Thanks for reminding me about that, I'd forgotten. Easier than
reconfiguring the icons all the time.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Well, yanking the plug is like running your car into a brick wall. You might
be able to restart it, but don't expect everything to keep working
correctly.

Have you tried disabling your antivirus solution to see if it makes any
difference? I've seen many unwanted system behavior issues resolved by this
one step.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com