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Over the past week or so whenever I get on the internet at least once a day I have a desktop icon problem. Some surfing sessions have no problem. When I close IE5.01 (Windows 98 SE) a number of the desktop icons have changed to the familiar white rectangle with the Windows logo. I've tried "refreshing" the desktop by pressing the appropriate icon down in the Quicklaunch toolbar twice, but it has no effect. The names are still beneath the icons, and they still open and close the programs or folders properly. It's just an annoyance and a puzzle. I've virus and trojan scanned with several programs.
Normally, when things are okay, if I open a desktop folder it will frequently cause a refreshing of the icons to their proper form. But when this glitch occurs, opening and closing folders anywhere in C:\ has no effect. The desktop refreshes in a limited way, but the icons remain the same. The only way I can get rid of the problem temporarily is to re-boot.
I've always used (without problem) the single-click, webstyle desktop. I'm guessing there's a simple answer. But my knowledge on the subject is obviously limited. Thanks for any help.
Brad
Sorry all. I just discovered how to *properly* refresh the desktop. I right-clicked on the desktop and selected "Refresh". Didn't know that was there. :) All the icons went back to normal. But that still doesn't explain why the problem occurs in the first place.
Brad
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It's to do with the ShellIconCache file not being big enough to hold all the icons encountered while running windows. There's a registry fix available on Micro$oft site - search for "ShellIconCache".
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Rambler is right.
Use a plain text editor (say, NotePad) to make the file (with extension .reg) with the contents :
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer]
"Max Cached Icon"="2048"Double click it to run (only if the folder setting/file types setting is right which normally is);
Or, run regedit to import registry file.It will add the line upon execution.
If not getting the desired effect, you can always run regedit to delete the line manually.
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According to M$oft, that "2048" value is bigger than the max. value that will be accepted. I seem to recall 800 was the maximum. Prove me wrong anyone? In adition, you have to delete the ShellIconCache file so it's rebuilt after a reboot.
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I'm proving myself wrong - just found I'd saved the page, and the max. value is 2000, so 2048 must be okay. Beware though - you may get a HUGE cache file with that value. The 800 value was the one I'd set myself. DOH!
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Thank you all for your help. After refreshing the desktop as I'd stated. The problem only occurred once more. It seems that your psychic attention to this matter may have cured my machine at a distance. :) But now if it reappears, I know what to do to permanently solve it. By the way, I found the Microsoft article on flaky icons (Q132668). They had several possible solutions. One was going into the Registry as you had mentioned. Just as a note: they said to add Max Cached Icons (note the "s") with a value data of the default 500, and that the range possible was 100 to 2000. Obviously, if I have the default already, though hidden, I'd probably first try raising it to 1000 and see how it works before going higher. If a Reg Edit doesn't work, then I'd figure the ShellIconCache file was damaged. This is when deleting it and rebooting is required.
Thanks again.
Brad
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One other thing. If someone has to delete a damaged ShellIconCache, it should be done from Safe Mode.
Brad
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Regret for the slip. I should have been more careful.
Confirm "Max Cached Icons" (Icons with an s).As to the rebuilding of ShellIconCache, it is an independent and alternative solution to the problem. I don't think one needs to take both courses of action to make it.
I am not sure the enlarged ShellIconCache is built in steps of what multiple. The con is one may have to do it more often, the pro is one gets the economy of memory resources. Each one his taste.
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An Update.
I had the problem again today (which was easy to quick-fix as before), so I decided to add the Max Cached Icons string value to the Registry. I set the value data to 1000. When I rebooted, instead of the desktop icons coming up gradually, first as Windows-logo icons, then at the end of booting barely changing in time to their proper form, this time as soon as they showed themselves all icons popped up quickly in their correct form. That extra cache really made a difference. Thank you for the answer.
Brad
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