My desktop icons changed!

I copied a picture from MS Word and it asked me about the virtual desktop and I clicked one of the options. Now the desktop looks fuzzy (border around the yellow folders) and "picture" icons that used to showed small pictures only show same icon!
How do I get back to my desktop with actual picture displayed as small icon?
Thanks,
Tanasit
PS My OS is XP.

Rightclick on your desktop and click on the "desktop" tab, there should be something there. :thinking: :shrug:

There should be a "System Restore" option that may be of use here.
Click on "Control Panel", click on "System", and there should be a tab near the top of that window reading "System Restore".

That ***SHOULD*** restore your desktop to a time before you made the boo-boo that screwed it up.

The_LED_Museum said:

There should be a "System Restore" option that may be of use here.
Click on "Control Panel", click on "System", and there should be a tab near the top of that window reading "System Restore".

That ***SHOULD*** restore your desktop to a time before you made the boo-boo that screwed it up.

Click to expand...

Yes... this will restore everything on your computer to back before your icons got whacked. Keep that in mind before you try it. Bart's recommendation is alot less "riskier"....

Thanks all but neither methods work! I still can't get the icon of the image show its picture. Picture below shows my new picture icon (that I don't want) for ALL picture. Anyone know what photo software is that? Before when opened a folder that contains picture, the icon is from PhotoShop but now I have the one below instead!

so your issue here is thumbnails don't work?
when my pic thumbnails don't work, usually mu video thumbnails don't either
heres my method [I use it quite frequently since my computer likes to reset just about everything after a phat load of windows updates
for videos

1. go to start=>run
2. type in cmd
3. type regsvr32 shmedia.dll
4. hit enter

for pictures

1. same steps as above only type in regsvr32 shimage.dll
2. hit enter

if it doesn't solve it immediately, restart the computer, so far haven't failed me. I also noticed that your icon texts are highlighted, heres a trick on getting "transparent icons" to work....making the words white and everywhere else your background color:huh:

1. go to start => control panels => system => advanced => performance => settings => visual effects
2. select "use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop"
3. click "show desktop" icon on your quick launch or minimize stuff so you can see the desktop.
4. right click desktop and select "arrange icons by," towards the bottom make sure "lock web items on desktop" is unchecked
5. your done, w00t!

let me know how it came out

This is what I did:

1. go to start=>run
2. type in cmd
3. hit OK, then dos box pop up
4. type regsvr32shimage.dll (one word no space between #2 and "s")
5. hit enter

I got the message,"regsvr32shimage.dll is not recognized as an internal or exteral command".

Next I chaged step 4 by adding a space between #2 and "s", thus type regsvr32 shimage.dll and hit enter.
I got the meassage,"LoadingLibrary ("shimage.dll) failed - The specified module could not be found.


As for the "transparent icons" , I followed the steps and it did NOT work.

tanasit said:

This is what I did:

1. go to start=>run
2. type in cmd
3. hit OK, then dos box pop up
4. type regsvr32shimage.dll (one word no space between #2 and "s")
5. hit enter

I got the message,"regsvr32shimage.dll is not recognized as an internal or exteral command".

Next I chaged step 4 by adding a space between #2 and "s", thus type regsvr32 shimage.dll and hit enter.
I got the meassage,"LoadingLibrary ("shimage.dll) failed - The specified module could not be found.


As for the "transparent icons" , I followed the steps and it did NOT work.

Click to expand...

I think there has to be a space here...I um...I need to check what I type

to remove media previews. i used "regsvr32 /u shimage.dll" and "regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll"
/u for unregistered server...Im not sure how you would enable it..../f?
Since I've skipped windows updates for over a year, I havent been back resetting it....I'll look for the info in a bit, first I have to edit a few things
try this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243401

If I open the folder that contains pictures and select view "list" I will see THAT new icon (before it was either properly displayed icon from PhotoShop or others) unless I select "thumbnail", then I see LARGE icon showing the picture which is corect.

this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243401 only deals with "Cannot View Thumbnail Image", which I don't have problems with.

Thanks,
Tanasit

PS. Not sure if I should try going back using the major "restore" point (not the one recommended by The_LED_Museum ) ?

tanasit said:

If I open the folder that contains pictures and select view "list" I will see THAT new icon (before it was either properly displayed icon from PhotoShop or others) unless I select "thumbnail", then I see LARGE icon showing the picture which is corect.

this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243401 only deals with "Cannot View Thumbnail Image", which I don't have problems with.

Thanks,
Tanasit

PS. Not sure if I should try going back using the major "restore" point (not the one recommended by The_LED_Museum ) ?

Click to expand...

Actually, system restore is not that bad, especially if you don't go back real far. It shouldn't cause you to lose any data as long as it is not stored on your desktop, it mainly only reverts the registry (and thus settings), drivers, system files, etc. Any apps installed after the date you restore to will still be physically present but probably won't be in your start menu and will likely need to be reinstalled to work properly. Also the system restore often doesn't work in normal mode. In that case, try booting to safe mode to do it.

Before you do that, though. Try this fix from Kelly's Korner.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
The one you want is on light 17 in the right hand column. Here is a direct link to it as well. You may also try the enable thumbnail view tweak (line 277, left column).

RE: Before you do that, though. Try this fix from Kelly's Korner.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
The one you want is on light 17 in the right hand column. Here is a direct link to it as well. You may also try the enable thumbnail view tweak (line 277, left column).

Tried all 3:
- Restore auplay icon has no option for .jpg
- Active desktop enable, disable = the script contains malware detected by Norton!
- Enable thumbnail view has no effect.

Thanks,
Tanasit

Could it be you are just trying to change the icon back? :tinfoil:
If so, try "mapoptions" in your configuration screen and choose "filetypes", find the type you want and you can change how it shows and what is used to open it.

I have a few pictures on my desktop whose icon showed its actual image so when I look at them I don't have to read the name because the picture is there. Now ALL of those icons display the same way as the symbol I posted earlier.

B@rt,

Can you explain,"try "mapoptions" in your configuration screen and choose "filetypes", in plain English because I can't find it.
Thanks,
Tanasit

tanasit said:

RE: Before you do that, though. Try this fix from Kelly's Korner.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
The one you want is on light 17 in the right hand column. Here is a direct link to it as well. You may also try the enable thumbnail view tweak (line 277, left column).

Tried all 3:
- Restore auplay icon has no option for .jpg
- Active desktop enable, disable = the script contains malware detected by Norton!
- Enable thumbnail view has no effect.

Thanks,
Tanasit

Click to expand...

I can assure you that the Kelly-Korner scripts are safe. The Norton response was a false-positive. Anyways, you might try deleting the shelliconcache as well. Just delete the file as directed in the link and reboot to see if that helps.

Oops, translation error...
Look for "folder options"


Go to the "filetypes" tab, and find the JPG extention. Remove it, and click "new". go to the advanced tab, type "JPG" as new file extention and select "Adobe Photoshop Image" as linked filetype.

This will make the jpg's on your deskrop show as a pic again.

Bingo B@rt:twothumbs:twothumbs:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I didn't even have to delete the jpg because there is an option to change "open with". It wasn't displayed as open with by any program but stated that it was just a jpg file!

Thank you.......
Tanasit

You're welcome. Still not sure where that "Eureka moment" came from, I know squat about computers...

Then imagine how I feel when I am the one who got a Phd in Computer Science. BTW, they didn't teach XP there!