I would gently offer that accepting "chkdsk" as the solution is inappropriate
to your issue. While running a disk check when you have goofy behavior is
fine--and certainly preventative maintenance, chkdsk is a *recovery* tool--if
you need to run it to fix problems, this means you have *other* problems,
e.g.: power failures, turning off your computer improperly, failing hardware,
disk driver issues, etc. Most of these are serious problems, and is probably
what "thecreator" was trying to ascertain.
To put it another way, for as long as I can remember, I've always found that
simply restarting Windows when icons fail to appear IS the "fix" -- but techs
know that restarting is never the fix -- it's what we say when we don't know
/ can't handle what's going on yet--and what users say when they've learned
it's the solution (but just masks the problem). The unfortunate side-effect
for high-level techs is that this knee-jerk hinders troubleshooting.
For missing icons, I've also found that using Task Manager
(Ctrl-Shift-Escape) to terminate Explorer and reload it is also a "fix." Does
this mean the processes are running but not visible? Well...no new events
appeared in event logs (Start | run | eventvwr) for items that had "just
started" so this seems more likely. Perhaps it's a timing issue related to
startup process interaction--but it's probably not a file system failure.
Your defrag is also fine...but this may simply help with timing...or nothing
more remarkable than just getting you more efficient startup.
If anyone reading this has similar issues resolved by simply restarting
"explorer.exe", I would be interested in exchanging the processes in my
startup groups to work towards finding what causes this.
Parting commentary:
The preferred way to restart explorer is NOT through Windows Task Manager,
though many people do this. The "right" way is to click "Start | Shutdown",
then choose [cancel] while holding down the "Ctrl, Alt, and Shift" keys.
Explorer should automatically restart. If it does not, it can be started
again by using Task Manager (ctrl-shift-escape), then choosing "File | New
Task (Run...)", typing "explorer" and clicking [Ok].
Since Windows 3.x, it has been possible to block startup items by holding
down the left "shift" key while windows is starting. This isn't as complete
as safe mode, but it is an effective way to get a quick, workable boot. Other
causes include such things such as: using msconfig to disable startup items,
antivirus programs, spyware, and etc.
