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I have an Icon on my desktop that I cannot delete, rename or move (into a folder - I can move it on the desktop). It started out as a McAfee Shredder icon and I edited the registry to try and get rid of it. Now it is just a standard folder icon with no name. It has no properties associated with it and no program associated with it. Does anyone know how to get rid of it?
Thanks
Reboot your computer, hold down F8, start your computer in command prompt only when you get to that little screen. When you get to the A:\ prompt, type in, "C:". Then type in "DELTREE C:\Windows\desktop\foldername"
Essentially what you are doing is overriding windows gui control and deleting that directory or foldername thats on your desktop through DOS. BE CAREFUL, dont forget to put in the folder name or you will delete your desktop lol... when you hit enter, another line will come up asking if you would like to delete that directory so don't be weary. Good Luck.
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Try deleting "ShellIconCache" file from Windows directory. Reboot, it'll be rebuilt.
What options do you have, when you right click on that folder?
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Thanks for the suggestions but the icon does not have any name associated with it.
The options I have when Right clicking are:open (Message says no program associated)
create shortcut -
properties - (message says there are no properties)
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I don't know if this will help, and I don't remember where I captured it from.
Pasted in;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Registry Editing TipsRemove Pesky Desktop Icons
There are some annoying icons that sitting on your desktop that you find you don't even touched at all. Removing some of these can't be any better. The easy way is to make a few Registry changes. Run your registry editor, and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
Let's say you want to remove the "Network Neighborhood" icon. With the above key highlighted, right click anywhere in the Registry field, select New, and click DWORD, to create a new entry. Name it NoNetHood When you set its value to 1 and then reboot, the Network Neighborhood desktop icon will be gone! To restore this icon on your desktop, change its value to 0. The good thing about this trick is that you can apply it to all your Desktop system icons.
To make changes to any other unwanted icon, go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}.
Within this key, each system icon has its own CLSID key (Class ID), a 16 byte value which identifies an individual object) that points to a corresponding key in the Registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
To delete an icon, remove the 16 byte CLSID value within NameSpace. To change an icon name, change the value of its sister CLSID key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}\DefaultIcon
Therefore, the Network Neighborhood correspondent keys would be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
and respectively:
KEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Here are the CLSID keys for all Windows 95/98/NT system icons:
Briefcase {85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}
Desktop {00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Control Panel {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Dial-Up Networking {992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}
Fonts {BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}
Inbox {00020D76-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
The Internet {FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}
My Computer {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Network Neighborhood {208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Printers {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Recycle Bin {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
The Microsoft Network {00028B00-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Url History Folder {FF393560-C2A7-11CF-BFF4-444553540000}
You can use the method above for any system icon you want to modify/delete. Go to the CLSID key you want to modify and change its DefaultIcon subkey. Recycle Bin makes an exception, its "Default" value lists the full pathname of the file that contains the corresponding icon. However, the easy way out to change the icons of My Computer, Network Neighborhood or Recycle Bin is the Plus! tab (Windows 95) or Effects (Windows 98) on the Display settingsWe personally don't recommend you to remove the My Computer icon. It will cause you some system instability. Try our next tip to make a better use out of My Computer.
Desktop Registry Edit 3
Return to the Registry Tips index
Registry Editing Tips 5
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In addition to Dan's post you may find one in the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace that has no name or ID in it and it is the one you want.Export the key first to be sure before deleting it.
Bryan
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Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I have gotten rid of the icon (as per Dan and Bryco) by deleting a key from -
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\
The were 3 keys in there - Recycle, My Documents and a blank one. Deleting the blank one did the trick.
ps - I tried deleting Shellconcache but this did not work.
I did notice a lot of references to old files and programs in the registry and it could use a cleaning up. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this - a good program or web site?
Thanks again
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Easy Cleaner by Toniarts
Regseeker.exe
A web search will turn up the latest versions of both. As with any "cleaner" program, heed the documentation that comes with each. They both default to backups if things go the way you didn't intend. (It helps to know ~what files do what~ with thier corrosponding programs.) Don't let this scare you though. The backups will be in place.
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I am a big fan of RegSeeker.
Of course, no single tool is perfect.
See http://computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/150548.html for much info on registry cleaners and particularly RegSeeker and it's use.Bryan
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I used RegSeeker with excellent results - deleted over 2900 items with no problems.
I'll try the others as well.
Thanks
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