Nearly all of the icons on the desktop have for some reason taken on
an identical logo, that of a program that I don't even keep on the
desktop.  (The only icons that retain their original image are "my
documents," "my computer," IE and the trash bin.) Icons that are in
the taskbar and on the Start menu are unaffected by this problem.  I
have noticed that when I type "lnk" into the "find" box, the listings
that come up show their original logos for a split second, then
there's flash and all the ".lnk" listings take on the same identical logo
as the corrupted desktop icons. I have already tried the following:
uninstalled the program whose logo "took over" all the others
(InfoMagic); deleted the ShellConCache file (a variation: the windows
help files suggested using the MS-DOS tool to enter "del shellicon,"
but that simply yielded the response "program not found"); installed a
registry change that expands the ShellConCache file capacity; I even
restored a older registry to the computer.  None of these efforts has
restored the original icon logos.  I have heard that there is a
"desktop themes" box somewhere with a drop-down menu "windows
default," but I cannot find it on my German-language computer. (I
looked for it on the control panel, and came up with a box where you
set screensavers, wallpapers, folder properties and the like, but
couldn't find anything about desktop themes--the German word for
desktop is desktop.)

My operating system is Windows ME, and otherwise seems to be working
OK.

I hope someone can help me to restore the proper logos to their icons.
 I'm not very technologically minded, but I can follow directions
well!

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Request for Question Clarification by bananarchy-ga on 12 Dec 2002 16:08 PST

eusebius - 

Have you tried manually changing each icon back?  On the desktop,
right-click an icon, and select "Properties" (or its German
equivalent... usually the bottom-most option on the menu that pops
up).  The dialog window that comes up should have the option "Change
Icon" at the bottom.  If you use this feature, does the icon return to
its old state?  If so, I believe I know what the problem is and how to
fix it.

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Request for Question Clarification by clouseau-ga on 12 Dec 2002 19:44 PST

Heloo eusebius,

First, the file you need to delete is ShellIconCache - note the I! If
you did not yet delete this, please do and then reboot.

If this does not solve the problem, then download TweakUI from
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui . It will appear as a
control panel application.

There is a tab for repair. Select icons and run this.

Do tell me if either of these work for you. Most likely, one will
solve your problem.

-=clouseau=-

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Clarification of Question by eusebius-ga on 13 Dec 2002 00:53 PST

ANSWER TO CLARIFICATION REQUESTS:

I tried the manual change suggested by banarchy, but it didn't work:
when I select "properties," it shows the icon's correct logo, but when
I click "accept" (or whatever the button is called in English) the
corrupt logo stays put on the desktop.  As I hinted in the original
question, the problem is somehow connected with *all* links: each
entry in the list of ".lnk" files--looks like there must be eighty
files--shows an identical logo.  Curiously, they show up "wrong" only
on the desktop; in the task bar and start menu they're OK.

Clouseau, my typographical error: I did delete ShellIconCache, to no
avail.  I shall try TweakUI tonight when I have some free time.

Thank you both for your comments.

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Clarification of Question by eusebius-ga on 13 Dec 2002 01:36 PST

I tried the ShellIconCache trick again--it worked this time--old icons
are back! Don't know why it worked this time and not before....Thanks
again.

The same thing happened to me all the time when I had Windows ME. When
I rebooted my computer, everything was back to normal. I think it was
a Windows ME bug.