Scrambled desktop icons

[Steve Hayes]

Does anyone know of a virus or anyhting else that could scramble desktop
icons?

I closed my Toshiba laptop without logging off, and moved it to the next room,
where I wanted to scan some pictures.

I started it up, clicked on the scanner icon, and it opened a different
program, a DOS program, which did not respond to the keystrokes to close it.

I clicked on another icon, and it too opened another program.

I thought it best to reboot, and it said that I should not switch off or
unplug the computer, as there were three Windows 7 updates to install.

I waited for it to install them, then restarted, and the same problem was
there again -- the desktop icons were scrambled.

Has anyone else experienced such a thing, and does anyyone have any idea of
what could be causing it?

 

[...winston]

Did the scanner shortcut post WU completion and subsequent reboot still
generate a Dos program ?
If so what Dos program ?

I've seen desktop icons rearranged a few times but none recent due to any WU
installations.
The rearrangement iirc on Vista (a few years ago) occurred after a video
driver update or rollback and also on a .Net update.

The safe approach though if something is out of whack - scan for Antimalware
and/or revert using an image or system restore.

--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Steve Hayes" wrote in message

Does anyone know of a virus or anyhting else that could scramble desktop
icons?

I closed my Toshiba laptop without logging off, and moved it to the next
room,
where I wanted to scan some pictures.

I started it up, clicked on the scanner icon, and it opened a different
program, a DOS program, which did not respond to the keystrokes to close it.

I clicked on another icon, and it too opened another program.

I thought it best to reboot, and it said that I should not switch off or
unplug the computer, as there were three Windows 7 updates to install.

I waited for it to install them, then restarted, and the same problem was
there again -- the desktop icons were scrambled.

Has anyone else experienced such a thing, and does anyyone have any idea of
what could be causing it?

 

[Steve Hayes]

Did the scanner shortcut post WU completion and subsequent reboot still
generate a Dos program ?
If so what Dos program ?

I've seen desktop icons rearranged a few times but none recent due to any WU
installations.
The rearrangement iirc on Vista (a few years ago) occurred after a video
driver update or rollback and also on a .Net update.

The safe approach though if something is out of whack - scan for Antimalware
and/or revert using an image or system restore.

Thanks guys.

I eventually found the problem, and it was quite simple to fix. Didn't see it
at first because the room was dark (lights not working). Followed the wire to
the scanner and found it was plugged into a multiple USB port. Something else
was plugges into it, which turned out to be a keyboard, on which someone had
put some heavy books. Unplugging the keybaord solved the problem. All it
needed was a bit more light on the scene. I wish all problems were that easy!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Thanks guys.

I eventually found the problem, and it was quite simple to fix. Didn't see it
at first because the room was dark (lights not working). Followed the wire to
the scanner and found it was plugged into a multiple USB port. Something else
was plugges into it, which turned out to be a keyboard, on which someone had
put some heavy books. Unplugging the keybaord solved the problem. All it
needed was a bit more light on the scene. I wish all problems were that easy!

Thanks for not keeping us in the dark

 

[Ken Blake]

I eventually found the problem, ... I wish all problems were that easy!

All problems *are* easy.

It's their solutions that can be hard to find. ;-)

 

[Roland Schweiger]

"Steve Hayes"

I eventually found the problem, and it was quite simple to fix.
Didn't see it
at first because the room was dark (lights not working). Followed
the wire to
the scanner and found it was plugged into a multiple USB port.
Something else
was plugges into it, which turned out to be a keyboard, on which
someone had
put some heavy books. Unplugging the keybaord solved the problem.
All it
needed was a bit more light on the scene. I wish all problems were
that easy!

LOL!
LOL!
ROFLMAO!

Myself, throughout my life, i had a couple of funny and curious errors
(e.g. pushing a sheet of paper through a shredder woke the desktop
computer out of S3 suspend-to-RAM mode),
but THIS ONE is really curious!!

greetings from Vienna

Roland Schweiger

 

[Iceman]

Steve Hayes wrote June 15th 2012 in

Does anyone know of a virus or anyhting else that could scramble
desktop icons?

I closed my Toshiba laptop without logging off, and moved it to the
next room, where I wanted to scan some pictures.

I started it up, clicked on the scanner icon, and it opened a
different program, a DOS program, which did not respond to the
keystrokes to close it.

I clicked on another icon, and it too opened another program.

I thought it best to reboot, and it said that I should not switch off
or unplug the computer, as there were three Windows 7 updates to
install.

I waited for it to install them, then restarted, and the same problem
was there again -- the desktop icons were scrambled.

Has anyone else experienced such a thing, and does anyyone have any
idea of what could be causing it?

That can, obviously, be caused by a changed desktop screen resolution. My
computer suddenly booted up the other day, with a SR of 800 X 600 (Win XP).
Changed it back to 1024 X 628, but of course the icons stayed scrambled.

I had recently uninstalled and reinstalled some video drivers, and that may
have got something to do with it.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Steve Hayes wrote June 15th 2012 in


That can, obviously, be caused by a changed desktop screen resolution. My
computer suddenly booted up the other day, with a SR of 800 X 600 (Win XP).
Changed it back to 1024 X 628, but of course the icons stayed scrambled.

If by scrambled you just mean moved around, then yes, changing to a
lower resolution then back will do that; there are various utilities
that will note where your icons are and restore them, such as EzDesk
(which I don't think runs under 7) and iconoid.

But your description above suggests you are finding clicking on a known
icon results in something different activating, which just a moving
around of the icons wouldn't cause, unless icons are being placed in the
same place and you're activating one of the buried ones.

I had recently uninstalled and reinstalled some video drivers, and that may
have got something to do with it.

That could well have caused the resolution change, though not I'd hope
icon scrambling other than moving.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

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