If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated.
My girlfriends computer kind of blinked the other day when she was
using it. All the normal icons disappeared and were replaced by generic icons. 2x clicking on these icons will not open a program. I cannot open any programs by going to START---ALL PROGRAMS---whatever. And all of those icons are generic. All the icons under the START menu are generic EXCEPT for her email program and Internet Explorer. And I can run those just fine, I can even send emails with attachments from the HD. When I click on the CONTROL PANEL, I get a very odd error message. It says (more or less) "CANNOT PLACE A SHORTCUT HERE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLACE IT ON THE DESKTOP." I cannot get the Control Panel to open nor anything else. I started the computer in safe mode, same problem. Any suggestions or advice is more then appreciated. (I've also tried to reboot several times with no resolution of the problem.) Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. But then I do not know if this problem was caused by a virus or what. Thank You Gents in advance if you chose to help me. Bonnie P. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated.
Bonnie Peebles wrote:
My girlfriends computer kind of blinked the other day when she was using it. All the normal icons disappeared and were replaced by generic icons. 2x clicking on these icons will not open a program. I cannot open any programs by going to START---ALL PROGRAMS---whatever. And all of those icons are generic. Sounds like a pre-Windows XP problem. You probably have to tell Windows that LNK files are shortcuts. I think there is a tiny registry file somebody made to do that. Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. Huh? By the way. Before you do anything, if the user has any important files, they should be copied to removable media. Frankly, if you haven't done that already, IMO you aren't experienced/knowledgeable enough to be helping anyone. If you have, good for you. Good luck. Bonnie P. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated.
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Bonnie Peebles
wrote: My girlfriends computer kind of blinked the other day when she was using it. All the normal icons disappeared and were replaced by generic icons. 2x clicking on these icons will not open a program. I cannot open any programs by going to START---ALL PROGRAMS---whatever. And all of those icons are generic. All the icons under the START menu are generic EXCEPT for her email program and Internet Explorer. And I can run those just fine, I can even send emails with attachments from the HD. When I click on the CONTROL PANEL, I get a very odd error message. It says (more or less) "CANNOT PLACE A SHORTCUT HERE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLACE IT ON THE DESKTOP." I cannot get the Control Panel to open nor anything else. I started the computer in safe mode, same problem. Any suggestions or advice is more then appreciated. (I've also tried to reboot several times with no resolution of the problem.) Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. But then I do not know if this problem was caused by a virus or what. Thank You Gents in advance if you chose to help me. Bonnie P. My *guess* is that you've had an entire directory destroyed or removed. That's what your symptoms sound like. My *guess* would be the "C:\Program Files" directory is gone, renamed, or moved. I suppose you might try doing a search .... Unless you can find where it got moved to and move or rename it back, or restore it from a backup, I think you're screwed. Yes, that *is* a common problem caused by some malicious viruses or Trojans. ;-{ Backup, backup, and backup again. Also run with Anti-Virus software installed. I suspect you'll probably have to end up reinstalling everything. ;-{ -- _____ / ' / â„¢ ,-/-, __ __. ____ /_ (_/ / (_(_/|_/ / _/ _ |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated.
On Tue, 22 May 2007 14:55:26 GMT, John Doe
wrote: Bonnie Peebles wrote: My girlfriends computer kind of blinked the other day when she was using it. All the normal icons disappeared and were replaced by generic icons. 2x clicking on these icons will not open a program. I cannot open any programs by going to START---ALL PROGRAMS---whatever. And all of those icons are generic. Sounds like a pre-Windows XP problem. You probably have to tell Windows that LNK files are shortcuts. I think there is a tiny registry file somebody made to do that. I'll see if I can find a program that can do that. Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. Huh? By the way. Before you do anything, if the user has any important files, they should be copied to removable media. Frankly, if you haven't done that already, IMO you aren't experienced/knowledgeable enough to be helping anyone. If you have, good for you. Good luck. Huh? I'll type it slowly for you so you can understand. ( Sorry, I couldn't resist. I know a lot is lost in a typed message but you seem to be coming across as kind of abrasive.) The only programs that I can run on the entire computer is the email program and Internet Explorer ( as stated in the original post.) Now, while I would guess it is POSSIBLE to back up a computer using an email program, my time is worth more than that. However, I guess I am a (sorry if I'm typing too fast for you) newby because I am not sure how one would back up there entire hard drive using Internet explorer, unless one would use an online data repository, and again, my time is too valuable to back a system up that way. Thus, I speculated that I would " Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. " Perhaps the HD confused you. It means Hard Drive. Now, the person had backed there entire HD ( H a r d D r i v e) up the day before this event, I could just reinstall that. But they didn't. So I'm looking for something to do - after I back there stuff up. I M H O, if it is not backed up, it is not important. I apologize if I came across sounding like an ass. It is just because, well, I guess I'm an ass. For some reason when I ask for help, it tends to irritate me when someone responds with what "I" take to be a passive aggressive message like : Frankly, if you haven't done that already, IMO you aren't experienced/knowledgeable enough to be helping anyone. If that was not your intention, again, I apologize. I suppose it could be you just didn't read the original message or I was somehow unclear. I'm use to getting this kind of response to inquires for help on the net, but the ratio is usually not this high. In this case at least 50 %. Regardless, I appreciate the helpful part of your suggestion. Bonnie P. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Attn: Frank Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated. - Attn Frank
Frank, Thank you. I suspect you are right about the reinstall. IMHO, if it is not backed up, it is not important. And I see system crashes as God's way of telling you that you had too much crap on your HD. But, this is not my system, so I'll have to make a better effort on their behalf then I would for myself. I cannot run anything other then email and Internet. Notta. No diagnostic programs, nothing. If the DIR was moved, then there is no easy way I can think of putting it back. Maybe when I put the HD into another computer as a SLAVE to Backup the data, I can have a better look. Regardless Frank, I do thank you for your help and appreciate you taking the time to try and help me. Bonnie On Tue, 22 May 2007 12:36:24 -0500, Frank McCoy wrote: In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Bonnie Peebles wrote: My girlfriends computer kind of blinked the other day when she was using it. All the normal icons disappeared and were replaced by generic icons. 2x clicking on these icons will not open a program. I cannot open any programs by going to START---ALL PROGRAMS---whatever. And all of those icons are generic. All the icons under the START menu are generic EXCEPT for her email program and Internet Explorer. And I can run those just fine, I can even send emails with attachments from the HD. When I click on the CONTROL PANEL, I get a very odd error message. It says (more or less) "CANNOT PLACE A SHORTCUT HERE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLACE IT ON THE DESKTOP." I cannot get the Control Panel to open nor anything else. I started the computer in safe mode, same problem. Any suggestions or advice is more then appreciated. (I've also tried to reboot several times with no resolution of the problem.) Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. But then I do not know if this problem was caused by a virus or what. Thank You Gents in advance if you chose to help me. Bonnie P. My *guess* is that you've had an entire directory destroyed or removed. That's what your symptoms sound like. My *guess* would be the "C:\Program Files" directory is gone, renamed, or moved. I suppose you might try doing a search .... Unless you can find where it got moved to and move or rename it back, or restore it from a backup, I think you're screwed. Yes, that *is* a common problem caused by some malicious viruses or Trojans. ;-{ Backup, backup, and backup again. Also run with Anti-Virus software installed. I suspect you'll probably have to end up reinstalling everything. ;-{ |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated.
Bonnie Peebles Bonniepeebles 10&Imin.Com wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2007 14:55:26 GMT, John Doe jdoe usenetlove.invalid wrote: Bonnie Peebles Bonniepeebles 10&Imin.Com wrote: My girlfriends computer kind of blinked the other day when she was using it. All the normal icons disappeared and were replaced by generic icons. 2x clicking on these icons will not open a program. I cannot open any programs by going to START---ALL PROGRAMS---whatever. And all of those icons are generic. Sounds like a pre-Windows XP problem. You probably have to tell Windows that LNK files are shortcuts. I think there is a tiny registry file somebody made to do that. I'll see if I can find a program that can do that. Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. Huh? By the way. Before you do anything, if the user has any important files, they should be copied to removable media. Frankly, if you haven't done that already, IMO you aren't experienced/knowledgeable enough to be helping anyone. If you have, good for you. Good luck. Huh? I'll type it slowly for you so you can understand. ( Sorry, I couldn't resist. I know a lot is lost in a typed message but you seem to be coming across as kind of abrasive.) It's the issue. People come in here crying about losing important files. Too many people out there don't know enough to backup/copy important files. The only programs that I can run on the entire computer is the email program and Internet Explorer ( as stated in the original post.) Now, while I would guess it is POSSIBLE to back up a computer using an email program, my time is worth more than that. You can get into Windows file manager (Windows Explorer). Even if shortcuts don't work, you can open programs by browsing to the executable file. Try Explorer.exe in the Windows folder. However, I guess I am a (sorry if I'm typing too fast for you) newby because I am not sure how one would back up there entire hard drive using Internet explorer, unless one would use an online data repository, and again, my time is too valuable to back a system up that way. You don't have to back up an entire hard drive unless they have no idea what and where their important files are (that's possible). A backup program is not the only way you can copy important files to removable media. Thus, I speculated that I would " Right now all I can think to do it to remove the HD and put it into another computer and make a copy of the HD. " Perhaps the HD confused you. It means Hard Drive. You can get into Windows, so having to remove the hard drive has nothing to do with any solution. You can copy files from within Windows. You can make a copy of the hard drive from a bootable CD/floppy. Now, the person had backed there entire HD ( H a r d D r i v e) up the day before this event, I could just reinstall that. But they didn't. So I'm looking for something to do - after I back there stuff up. I M H O, if it is not backed up, it is not important. I hope your not suggesting that all users know enough to backup important files. People lose files all the time. I apologize if I came across sounding like an ass. It is just because, well, I guess I'm an ass. For some reason when I ask for help, it tends to irritate me when someone responds with what "I" take to be a passive aggressive message like : Frankly, if you haven't done that already, IMO you aren't experienced/knowledgeable enough to be helping anyone. When it comes to that issue, I would like to make an impression. Apparently too many people out there don't know better. If that was not your intention, again, I apologize. I suppose it could be you just didn't read the original message or I was somehow unclear. Maybe you didn't read my next sentence? I have no idea who you are. By your message, apparently you know little about what you're trying to do. Alarms went off about the possibility of losing data, partly because you're likely to make mistakes and partly because you likely don't know enough to have copies of important files. Of course I could be mistaken about copies/backups, that's why I mentioned the possibility you do know that. Though I'm not convinced. I'm use to getting this kind of response to inquires for help on the net, And the Internet revolves around you, so that's not right. but the ratio is usually not this high. In this case at least 50 %. I also mentioned the possibility that you do know enough to make sure the user has backups. In fact, there's no way to know except by what you have written. Considering that, I do think you are lost. Maybe you can provide further explanation about why you feel a need to remove the hard drive and put it into another computer. That's strange IMO. Regardless, I appreciate the helpful part of your suggestion. Satisfaction guaranteed or double your money back. Bonnie P. Path: newssvr11.news.prodigy.net!newsdbm03.news.prodigy. net!newsdst01.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.com!newscon 04.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.net!news.astraweb.com! border1.newsrouter.astraweb.com!uns-out.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!pc02.us enetserver.com!KNOLOGY.NET-a2kHrUvQQWlmc!not-for-mail From: Bonnie Peebles Bonniepeebles 10&Imin.Com Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Subject: Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated. Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 06:03:29 -0400 Organization: Iam Sofa King We Todd Did! Message-ID: egna539gchp7nnfss26j7j0krirh8chqen 4ax.com References: rpu553p0t33b29cv1s76k8g5sbmtujkhif 4ax.com yvD4i.21617$YL5.10122 newssvr29.news.prodigy.net X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 3.1/32.783 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse usenetserver.com Lines: 82 X-Trace: c2524465562fce0a49ee628302 Xref: prodigy.net alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:490074 |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated.
Frank McCoy mccoyf millcomm.com wrote:
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Bonnie Peebles wrote: All the icons under the START menu are generic EXCEPT for her email program and Internet Explorer. And I can run those just fine, I can even send emails with attachments from the HD. My *guess* is that you've had an entire directory destroyed or removed. That's what your symptoms sound like. My *guess* would be the "C:\Program Files" directory is gone, renamed, or moved. I suppose you might try doing a search .... That would be a little more than a wild guess if iexplore.exe and msimn.exe are in a subfolder under Program Files. The likely reason Internet and e-mail works is because those are not ordinary shortcuts. Yes, that *is* a common problem caused by some malicious viruses or Trojans. ;-{ Losing shortcut associations is not uncommon but the time(s) it happened to me probably was caused by something other than a virus or Trojan. -- _____ / ' / ƒ"½ ,-/-, __ __. ____ /_ (_/ / (_(_/|_/ / _/ _ Path: newsdbm02.news.prodigy.net!newsdst02.news.prodigy. net!prodigy.com!newscon02.news.prodigy.net!prodigy .net!wn13feed!worldnet.att.net!207.14.113.39!news. alt.net From: Frank McCoy mccoyf millcomm.com Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Subject: Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated. Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 12:36:24 -0500 Organization: S.F.P.I.A Lines: 56 Message-ID: u5a653t1kd3qv80aoc21raacok0olo4035 4ax.com References: rpu553p0t33b29cv1s76k8g5sbmtujkhif 4ax.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American) Xref: prodigy.net alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt:489989 X-Received-Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 13:35:34 EDT (newsdbm02.news.prodigy.net) |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Attn: Frank Icons gone, Generic icons in its place but will not run the programs. Any assistance appreciated. - Attn Frank
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Bonnie Peebles
wrote: Frank, Thank you. I suspect you are right about the reinstall. IMHO, if it is not backed up, it is not important. And I see system crashes as God's way of telling you that you had too much crap on your HD. But, this is not my system, so I'll have to make a better effort on their behalf then I would for myself. I cannot run anything other then email and Internet. Notta. No diagnostic programs, nothing. If the DIR was moved, then there is no easy way I can think of putting it back. Actually, *IF* you can find it, then putting it back is quite easy. Once I did something similar by clicking on an important directory by accident and before I realized what had happened I'd *moved* the thing into an adjacent directory! Thankfully I caught it *right then* (once things went to crap) and remembered what I'd been working on just previously. So, by looking in various directories I found the one that shouldn't have been where it was, opened two windows, clicked on the errant directory in the first one, and placed it in the desired spot in the other. It's really *dumb* that Windows allows you to do that without even asking if you're sure. But it CAN happen with just the slip of a finger on the mouse. *Poof* a directory as important as "C:\Program Files" is seemingly *gone*; only into another directory without you ever being aware that such a thing happened. File names can also get corrupted. That's usually *much* more serious though. A rename is possible; but much less likely. There, just look for a directory with a name that doesn't make sense where the directory you want should be. If the directory structure gets hosed though, generally you're screwed. You can *try* running chkdsk /f though, and seeing if it fixes things. Sometimes it will; or enough that a rename or move (see above) might work. Not too fond of Windows' automatic "fixes" for many problems. Maybe when I put the HD into another computer as a SLAVE to Backup the data, I can have a better look. Regardless Frank, I do thank you for your help and appreciate you taking the time to try and help me. You're welcome. I could probably do more to find out if there personally; but it's hard to diagnose from a distance, even using the Remote Console function. -- _____ / ' / â„¢ ,-/-, __ __. ____ /_ (_/ / (_(_/|_/ / _/ _ |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Icons gone! | toti | Dell Computers | 4 | December 3rd 05 11:44 PM |
Disk icons | ElJerid | General | 1 | July 4th 05 10:00 AM |
ICONS on top of i850 | Innealtoir | Printers | 1 | June 20th 04 06:54 PM |