Repair Install or Try to Work it Out

[tmaclean]

On a computer that I'm working on, the icons on the desktop aren't coming up. I went under the Display control panel and tried to enable them but nothing happens. I read a couple of Microsoft Support articles and they suggest registry editing. I went to do what they said to enable the Recycle Bin and the key that they want me to create are already existing. Would a repair install fix this problem or is there another way I should go about this?

Oh and of course I've already scanned for viruses (AVG), and Spyware (Spybot and Adaware), along with CCleaner as well.

Thanks in advance.

[juppy]

Well, first the easier thing to try.....right click on the desktop, go to "Arrange Icons By" and make sure "Show Desktop Icons" has a check mark by it.

If that doesn't work, you can try restarting explorer to see if it's causing the problem. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up the task manager. Go to the Processes tab. If explorer.exe is listed, click on it once to highlight it, then select End Process. Now, in task manager, go to File, New Task, and type in "explorer.exe" (without the quotes), then Okay to restart explorer and see if that brings the icons back again.

[tmaclean]

The "show desktop icons" solution worked. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I guess it's because I wouldn't ever think that option would be necessary. Is there a time when you want to disable the desktop icons?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by tmaclean The "show desktop icons" solution worked. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I guess it's because I wouldn't ever think that option would be necessary. Is there a time when you want to disable the desktop icons?

I hide the desktop icons on all my home computers because I rather see my wallpaper without any icons cluttering it up. I use the Quick Launch bar to start frequently used programs.

Cricket