Windows XP forum: Cannot access programs with desktop icons

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user leaningtowardapple

Here're some things to try

by wpgwpg - 1/10/13 7:25 PM

In Reply to: Cannot access programs with desktop icons by leaningtowardapple

It sounds like you could have a virus or other malware. Get your antivirus program up to date and boot into Safe Mode. Note that some viruses can hide themselves from your antivirus program in normal mode, so you really need to scan in Safe Mode. To get into Safe Mode when you first power up, hit F8 about once a second until you get the menu and select Safe Mode. Then run a full system scan.
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Microsoft has suggestions and offerings at
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/how-do-I-remove-a-computer-virus
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MS forum moderator Keith has some suggestions along this line at
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-explorer-has-stopped-working/6ab02526-5071-4dcc-895f-d90202bad8b3
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If that fixes it, fine. If not, use System Restore to go back to a date prior to the beginning of the problem. To run System Restore, click Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore. Click the box that says Show more restore points.
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You can check for corrupted system files. Open an administrator command prompt and run SFC if the above doesn't help. Click START, then type CMD in the search box, right-click CMD.EXE and click Run as administrator. Then from the command prompt type sfc /scannow.
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Finally if all else fails, you can check the rather cryptic system event log. To do that click Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer. Once in Event Viewer click on the system log and scroll through the entries looking for those flagged "error" to see if you can find hints as to where the problem could be.
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When you get your system back in good working order, I urge you to back your system up to an external hard drive and make regular periodic updates to it.
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I hope this helps. Good luck.

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Ran Microsoft Safety Scanner

by leaningtowardapple - 1/11/13 6:12 AM

In Reply to: Here're some things to try by wpgwpg

I started Microsoft Safety Scanner over eight hours ago and it is still running (almost 2 million files scanned). It has found nothing so far. Should I let it continue or try something else?

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Re: 2 million files

by Kees_B - 1/11/13 6:22 AM

In Reply to: Ran Microsoft Safety Scanner by leaningtowardapple

Well, how many files do you have on your system?

From the command prompt run chkdsk on all your disks. It will report the number of files in the summary. And possibly it will report errors.

On my c:-drive (with Windows 7) I've got 130.180 files (and 0 errors). So 2 million files is quite a lot. That's why I said it might report errors.

Kees

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Number of files

by leaningtowardapple - 1/11/13 11:06 AM

In Reply to: Re: 2 million files by Kees_B

It looked like it was expanding and testing everything in all the CAB files. Chkdsk shows far fewer files.

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Running Bitdefender from bootable CD

by leaningtowardapple - 1/11/13 11:12 AM

In Reply to: Here're some things to try by wpgwpg

I am running Bitdefender from a bootable CD at present.

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user leaningtowardapple

Re: doesn't work

by Kees_B - 1/11/13 3:38 AM

In Reply to: Cannot access programs with desktop icons by leaningtowardapple

What is "Cleanup with compression"? And why that compression?

If the suggestions by wpgwpg above don't help, I'm afraid you're facing a clean install of Windows XP.

Kees

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cleanup

by leaningtowardapple - 1/11/13 6:08 AM

In Reply to: Re: doesn't work by Kees_B

I checked Compress Old Files when I ran a disk cleanup from Accessories/System Tools

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Scans etc.

by pgc3 - 1/11/13 6:58 AM

In Reply to: cleanup by leaningtowardapple

When you ran scans, etc. and especially scans for malware, did you run in SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING??Not just SAFE MODE...If you did and had no results, I'd start reloading Windows from scratch.

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user leaningtowardapple

ran in safe mode with networking

by leaningtowardapple - 1/11/13 11:06 AM

In Reply to: Cannot access programs with desktop icons by leaningtowardapple

safe mode with networking

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user leaningtowardapple

It's rare but it may be worth trying.

by R. Proffitt - 1/11/13 11:26 AM

In Reply to: Cannot access programs with desktop icons by leaningtowardapple

UNCOMPRESS ALL THE FILES. How?

Read http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp/523328-solved-uncompress-old-files.html

It should not matter but given the story so far, I'd undo something you did above.
Bob

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Answer Best answer as chosen by user leaningtowardapple

probably isn't this...

by porsche10x - 3/4/13 10:32 AM

In Reply to: Cannot access programs with desktop icons by leaningtowardapple

This doesn't explain all of your symptoms, but the first few remind me of a "joke" someone played on me once, a while ago. He used alt-printscreen to take a snapshot of my desktop, set the picture to be my wallpaper, then moved all the desktop icons into a folder. None of the icons worked, of course, since they were just part of the background picture.

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