Icon Links Missing - - Help!!

[Whenisaywe]

Out of no where my icons just seemed to vanish!

My computer, my documents, my photos, my music, my video...all of the icons for the shortcuts are not what they used to be.

I've managed to change a few icons...but that still doesnt fix the problem.

Help


Here is a link to a screen shot of my desktop (my music, my pictures, my vidoes are the messed up links): http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/WhenISayWe/Desktop.jpg

 

[PC eye]

It would seem the default icons were changed to another type like some seen on older versions of Windows. The properties setting would allow the change of the default icon to another found by browsing for it or something that got onto the system made the changes seen there.

There are a few ideas here to run by you. One is a good scan of the system for any spyware or virus found. The first is the obvious right click and look through the properties to see if icons can be changed by browsing for another. The views settings on the explorer wouldn't change them enough for what is seen there. type "sfc /scannow" at the Run prompt to start the system file checker utility in case a few files need to be replaced. And the last one is simply using the system restore to bring the system back just before the change was first seen.

 

[chrisalviola]

maybe you logged on as a different user?

 

[Impr3ssiv3]

you could have gotten a virus

 

[PC eye]

If any virus is found you would first disable the creation of any new restore points to prevent any chance of reinfection from those. If the system comes up clean using different tools a system restore could correct any Windows related problems. It does look like certain Windows files themselves were changed by something like a malware. That can't be ruled quite yet.

 

[Cumpee-u-taah]

Got the same problem and i was unable to restore to an earlier point, ive also virus/spyware scanned my system aswell.
any other ideas on what the cause could be?

 

[PC eye]

The desktop.ini and read only properties setting are part of Windows itself. This is why the system file checker could be one idea to run with. File sharing being enabled by something would have allowed the read only setting to be changed by a virus or some type of malware. A right click on the effected folders would tell you if the read only setting still has a check in the box. You may want to run a few other things like Panda's online scan to see if something is going unseen by the usual scans.