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After having updated a few of my programmes to the most recent version (winamp, firefox, VLC ) I now have a problem with my desktop icons. I have no idea whether or not the two are connected.

I cannot now double click on any icons, nor can I move any of them from their current position. They will only work by right clicking then "open", or by opening in the Start menu

Does anybody have any ideas

Ignore this post if you're not using XP - I'm guessing that you are but if not I can get the alternative instructions.

Right click http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/exefix.reg and save, then rename the file to exefix.reg (that involves taking the ".txt" off the end of the filename, if the name isn't exefix.reg already) and double-click to execute it.

Then try to double-click a desktop icon. Does it now run the program?

And if you right-click the desktop, "arrange icons by", is auto-arrange selected? And is "lock web items on desktop" selected? Neither should be.

If the icons still refuse to move after unticking those two, right click http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_ed ... gndrop.reg and save, then rename the file to enabledragndrop.reg (that involves taking the ".txt" off the end of the filename, if the name isn't enabledragndrop.reg already) and double-click to execute it. Does that clear the moving icons problem?

Spot, thanks for your response. I'm using windows 7

Bloody hell, the world moves along like that train in the Jethro Tull anthem.

You might like to see if your virus checker's up to date and not going Ooooh Betty in the background, while I think about it.

spot;1318177 wrote: Bloody hell, the world moves along like that train in the Jethro Tull anthem.

You might like to see if your virus checker's up to date and not going Ooooh Betty in the background, while I think about it.


Spywaredoctor with antivirus and SUPERantispyware (that I use for occasional belt and brace scans - it often discovers a few bits and pieces spywaredoctor might have missed) are both up to date. Spywaredoctor scans regularly.

No Ooooh Bettys, thank goodness

Have a quick check with right-click the desktop, "arrange icons by", is auto-arrange selected? And is "lock web items on desktop" selected? Neither should be. Just so I know whether they've been tinkered.

(That might be a non-PC expression these days but never mind)

http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/lnkfix_vista.zip works on Windows 7 if you want to try it. It puts all the link files back to executing when you double-click them. You download it, double-click the download file and then double-click the .reg file that's inside the zip.

I don't want to bum you out but it usually a 3rd party program that causes this in windows 7, see below hope this helps..





I have windows 7 ultimate signature edition, from being a windows 7 launch party host.



every once in a while my desktop icon, are not clickable. I can click on shortcuts on the bottom bar and the windows ball at the bottom to load programs from the start menu, but no shortcuts on the desktop will work. I can not even click on the widget on the side of my desktop



Everything works again when a do a reboot, and will be fine for a few days then it happens again.



This is the 5th time it has happen since installing windows 7 three weeks ago.


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Hi,



This issue can be caused by third party programs. You can try testing it in Clean Boot mode.



If the issue persists, try creating a new account:



Create a new user account

====================

1. Click the Start Button, type User Accounts in the start search pane and press Enter.

2. Click Manage use accounts.

3. Click Create a new account, and type the name.

4. Choose account type as Computer administrator.



Does it reoccur?

Vivian Xing - MSFT



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Hi,



This issue can be caused by third party programs. You can try testing it in Clean Boot mode.



If the issue persists, try creating a new account:



Create a new user account

====================

1. Click the Start Button, type User Accounts in the start search pane and press Enter.

2. Click Manage use accounts.

3. Click Create a new account, and type the name.

4. Choose account type as Computer administrator.



Does it reoccur?

Vivian Xing - MSFT


Marked As Answer byVivian XingMSFT, ModeratorThursday, November 05, 2009 9:00 AM



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We've come across this exact symptom on a new windows 7 computer. The problem turned out to be AVG 9. Once it was removed, the computer worked normally again.


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I had the same problem with the icons locking on the desktop after I would shut down windows explorer. The icons would work fine on a system reboot. My hp computer had regular version of internet explorer and the 64 bit version. When I use only the 64 bit version of explorer my desktop icons no longer lock up. Hope this works for you too.


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spot;1318185 wrote: Have a quick check with right-click the desktop, "arrange icons by", is auto-arrange selected? And is "lock web items on desktop" selected? Neither should be. Just so I know whether they've been tinkered.

(That might be a non-PC expression these days but never mind)


I checked that and auto arrange is unchecked

spot;1318193 wrote: http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/lnkfix_vista.zip works on Windows 7 if you want to try it. It puts all the link files back to executing when you double-click them. You download it, double-click the download file and then double-click the .reg file that's inside the zip.


Tried that but to no avail. Seemed to have no affect at all.

To be perfectly honest I've been experiencing a few irritating problems over the past few months that I have been living with but should be addressing, namely that Firefox seems to either hangs forever (not responding) or crashes completely. Task manager is unable to stop the process which leaves me with the only option of switching the computer off manually. Windows has crashed a good few times as well.

Maybe its time for a clean install. Providing of course all my hardware is working fine

I posted before I read yours Carla. Thankyou. I shall read and digest

Snowfire;1318200 wrote: Tried that but to no avail. Seemed to have no affect at all.


If force-fixing the file associations has no effect then it's something of a puzzle.

Creating a new user account and logging into it, as Carla's article suggests, would be informative.

I have Window 7 ultimate and I can tell you Firefox is a problem for me as well I just don't use it anymore it had become slow and as you said hangs or crashes. IE8 isn't bad it out shines FIREFOX at the moment.



Something slammed your file associations in your registry maybe a restore back to before you updated the software. There is a bat file program out that takes care of the issue I will try and find it for you it restored my XP system when this happened to it.

Carla, I followed the instructions but nothing became of it. So it seems it isnt a third party programme causing the problem. I then reverted back to normal start up as recommended.

I also did a system restore to before I experienced the problem, ie before I updated those programmes yesterday. That hasnt helped either

Reading this thread reminds me so much of my experience when I migrated to Windows 7. I moved to Linux and now everything works.

Sorry:o, I did learn to hate Windows 7:(, because try as I like, nothing helped.