djlebarron
24 Sep 2009, 02:59 PM
Ever have one of those days when several of your "originally sourced from SHELL32.dll" icons that you've put on desktop links go generic, and no matter how many times you click properties>change icon>"icon">OK>Apply>OK, they don't want to look the way they did when you first applied them?
I remember that I fixed just this problem years back, but I don't remember exactly what Windows version I had or exactly how I did it. Well, that was then and this is now, so I would imagine the same simple (duh) fix isn't what I used today.
I'm providing a link to an MS help page that lays out the fixes I've heard of for icons that flip out in one way or another.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/132668
Note that each bullet on that page donates a seperate and different method (which one works presumably depends on what's causing the problem).
But, they don't tell you that a combination of bullet 4 and bullet 3 (in that order) with some steps in between, is the only cure for whatever the heck ailed me.
I did the first part of bullet 4. I didn't do step 5 and 6 at that point though. I didn't change my color depth back to 32bit. Instead, I did the conventional "change icon" procedure for any of the (now displayed @ 16bit) generic icons that didn't change back after the color depth change. Just to be sure I was also in the process of trashing the current icon cache, I set my folders to "show system files", went into C:\users\Me\Appdata\Local\ and deleted IconCache. I emptied the recycling bin. I then opened task manager (control>alt>delete) and in the "processes" tab, I shut down all instances of iexplore.exe and explore.exe that were running in the background (and/or foreground). Don't freak when you shut down all the instances of explore.exe. I say that because your entire desktop will disappear (and everything else) except for the background. No fear. I reached over and pushed the "off" button on the computer. I should probably really emphasise right here that I'm running Vista. I would never lead anyone astray by recommending that in any earlier version of Windows.
After I gave the hard drive a second or two to quit spinning, I pushed the button again. After the computer booted, loaded everything, and stabilized, I changed my color depth back to 32bit. Success. All the icons stayed the way I like them.
I really suspect that I was out of space in my icon cache, and I didn't really want to use registry edit to expand it. I'm guessing that many of the icons in my icon cache were no longer relevant because they were icons and favicons from sites and programs that I've long since thrown out. Like governments passing laws, the ones that no longer apply stay there and they all just keep stacking up, until the cache maxes out and just starts spitting (relavent and non-relavent) icons out the other end, never to be seen again. At present my icon cache holds the default of 500. I further suspect that when windows boots (after you take these steps), it creates the new IconCache file with the icons that are referenced by the current registry and links & programs that use them. I could be wrong. I've been wrong a couple of times. None of the procedures (done seperately) resolved the issue. But, by doing what I did in the sequence I did it in, it seems that I've been given some fresh headroom.
I'm asking those who don't have a good understanding of these procedures to NOT try this. It worked for me. I have to tell you that I'm not taking any responsibility for anything bad that happens if you follow my route. And even more than that, if I thought that my sharing and only trying to help others that experience icon blow-outs was responsible for bunging up someone's machine, I'd feel pretty horrible. So please (those that understand the steps) proof-read and make sure I didn't make any mistakes in the translation before you proceed.
But, again, it worked for me when nothing else I saw anywhere (besides expanding the limit of the icon cache via the registry, which I didn't try) would.
Don't forget to go back into your folder options and set "hide system files" for the enire machine after you're all done. For your own safety. :)
I remember that I fixed just this problem years back, but I don't remember exactly what Windows version I had or exactly how I did it. Well, that was then and this is now, so I would imagine the same simple (duh) fix isn't what I used today.
I'm providing a link to an MS help page that lays out the fixes I've heard of for icons that flip out in one way or another.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/132668
Note that each bullet on that page donates a seperate and different method (which one works presumably depends on what's causing the problem).
But, they don't tell you that a combination of bullet 4 and bullet 3 (in that order) with some steps in between, is the only cure for whatever the heck ailed me.
I did the first part of bullet 4. I didn't do step 5 and 6 at that point though. I didn't change my color depth back to 32bit. Instead, I did the conventional "change icon" procedure for any of the (now displayed @ 16bit) generic icons that didn't change back after the color depth change. Just to be sure I was also in the process of trashing the current icon cache, I set my folders to "show system files", went into C:\users\Me\Appdata\Local\ and deleted IconCache. I emptied the recycling bin. I then opened task manager (control>alt>delete) and in the "processes" tab, I shut down all instances of iexplore.exe and explore.exe that were running in the background (and/or foreground). Don't freak when you shut down all the instances of explore.exe. I say that because your entire desktop will disappear (and everything else) except for the background. No fear. I reached over and pushed the "off" button on the computer. I should probably really emphasise right here that I'm running Vista. I would never lead anyone astray by recommending that in any earlier version of Windows.
After I gave the hard drive a second or two to quit spinning, I pushed the button again. After the computer booted, loaded everything, and stabilized, I changed my color depth back to 32bit. Success. All the icons stayed the way I like them.
I really suspect that I was out of space in my icon cache, and I didn't really want to use registry edit to expand it. I'm guessing that many of the icons in my icon cache were no longer relevant because they were icons and favicons from sites and programs that I've long since thrown out. Like governments passing laws, the ones that no longer apply stay there and they all just keep stacking up, until the cache maxes out and just starts spitting (relavent and non-relavent) icons out the other end, never to be seen again. At present my icon cache holds the default of 500. I further suspect that when windows boots (after you take these steps), it creates the new IconCache file with the icons that are referenced by the current registry and links & programs that use them. I could be wrong. I've been wrong a couple of times. None of the procedures (done seperately) resolved the issue. But, by doing what I did in the sequence I did it in, it seems that I've been given some fresh headroom.
I'm asking those who don't have a good understanding of these procedures to NOT try this. It worked for me. I have to tell you that I'm not taking any responsibility for anything bad that happens if you follow my route. And even more than that, if I thought that my sharing and only trying to help others that experience icon blow-outs was responsible for bunging up someone's machine, I'd feel pretty horrible. So please (those that understand the steps) proof-read and make sure I didn't make any mistakes in the translation before you proceed.
But, again, it worked for me when nothing else I saw anywhere (besides expanding the limit of the icon cache via the registry, which I didn't try) would.
Don't forget to go back into your folder options and set "hide system files" for the enire machine after you're all done. For your own safety. :)