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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Customization / March 2007

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please help! Desktop/icon problems

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Matthew - 30 Mar 2007 15:50 GMT
I recently had Norton System Works on my pc and using one of the options it
has i took all my desktop icons and but them on the taskbar, not the
quicklaunch but in a separate location. Now i don't have Norton anymore and i
want my icons visible on my screen again. I can't even right-click on my
screen and have my display options come up. How do i get back to normal?
Ken Blake, MVP - 30 Mar 2007 19:02 GMT
> I recently had Norton System Works on my pc and using one of the
> options it has i took all my desktop icons and but them on the
> taskbar, not the quicklaunch but in a separate location.

Please clarify exactly what "separate location" you mean. There is no place
on the Task Bar where you can put shortcut icons *except* on the Quick
Launch Bar.

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Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

> Now i don't
> have Norton anymore and i want my icons visible on my screen again. I
> can't even right-click on my screen and have my display options come
> up. How do i get back to normal?
Matthew - 30 Mar 2007 19:28 GMT
"Matthew replies"
I'm not sure how i can describe it, so i will provide a link so you can see
a picture (sorry bout the quality) of the the desktop folder thing
http://lacollege.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000536&l=497f8&id=1208790069
I look forward to hearing back from you

> > I recently had Norton System Works on my pc and using one of the
> > options it has i took all my desktop icons and but them on the
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> > can't even right-click on my screen and have my display options come
> > up. How do i get back to normal?
Ken Blake, MVP - 30 Mar 2007 20:10 GMT
> "Matthew replies"
> I'm not sure how i can describe it, so i will provide a link so you
> can see a picture (sorry bout the quality) of the the desktop folder
> thing
> http://lacollege.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000536&l=497f8&id=1208790069
> I look forward to hearing back from you

It's a poor picture, as you say, so it's hard to be sure, but it looks like
you've created a toolbar that reflects the contents of the desktop folder.

Everything there should also be on the desktop, but I have no idea what your
use of some Norton program may have done.

At any rate, look here for your desktop icons: c:\documents and
setting\[your user name]\desktop

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Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

>>> I recently had Norton System Works on my pc and using one of the
>>> options it has i took all my desktop icons and but them on the
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>>> I can't even right-click on my screen and have my display options
>>> come up. How do i get back to normal?
Wesley Vogel - 30 Mar 2007 21:16 GMT
I agree with Ken, it looks like you created a toolbar on the Taskbar.

The New toolbar lets you place a shortcut to a folder on the taskbar.

To remove a toolbar from the taskbar, right-click an empty area on the
taskbar, point to Toolbars and then click the toolbar you want to remove to
clear the check mark.

You need to figure out the location of the folder that the toolbar is a
shortcut to.  The name of the folder would also be useful to know.  It looks
like, form you picture that Desktop may be the name of the folder.

The Desktop you see is a combination of two folders.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
or
%allusersprofile%\Desktop
AND
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Desktop
or
%userprofile%\Desktop

All Users Desktop: Refers to the desktop common for all the users.

User Desktop: Refers to the desktop of that user.

Start | Run | Type:   desktop   | Click OK |
See anything there?

Start | Run | Paste:   %allusersprofile%\Desktop   | Click OK |
See anything there?

Do a search for Unused Desktop Shortcuts.

When the Desktop Cleanup Wizard runs, it places unused shortcuts into a
folder on the desktop called Unused Desktop Shortcuts. However, if you want,
these shortcuts can be recovered from this folder.
-------

You do not need to use a camera to take a screen shot.  You can use the
Print Scrn key.

The Print Screen key, is often abbreviated as Print Scrn.

Print Scrn key copies everything on your screen.

In Windows, the sole function of this key is to take a snapshot or picture
of your computer screen and copy it to the clipboard.

"Under earlier command-line based operating systems, this caused an exact
copy of the current screen output to be sent to the standard printer port,
usually LPT1. In essence, whatever was currently on the screen when the key
was pressed was printed."

Alt key+ Print Scrn key
[[Will take a screenshot of the currently selected window, not the entire
screen like the normal screenshot function. This allows you to target that
specific window that you have open and nothing else. No more cropping those
screenshots to grab the content you were after!]]

You have to paste the image in to Paint, Wordpad, Word or some other program
that will handle images.

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Hope this helps.  Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

> "Matthew replies"
> I'm not sure how i can describe it, so i will provide a link so you can
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>>> can't even right-click on my screen and have my display options come
>>> up. How do i get back to normal?
Matthew - 31 Mar 2007 00:02 GMT
Thank you Wesley, you were right, i was able to get the toolbar off of my
taskbar the way you said to, but i was not able to find a unused desktop
shortcut. Even with the desktop off my taskbar, it's like my background is
still dead, i can't drag anything on to it, i can't click on it. The bad part
is, when i'm looking at all of my 'desktop' options, there is nothing about
toggling it between a toolbar and the actual background screen, it's not
setup to know a difference.
Wesley Vogel - 31 Mar 2007 20:17 GMT
Hi Matthew,

This link is no longer good
http://lacollege.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000536&l=497f8&id=1208790069
so I cannot look at the picture again.

>  I can't even right-click on my
> screen and have my display options come up. How do i get back to normal?

Nothing happens when you right click on your desktop?

I am not sure where to start.  One of the options in the right click,
context menu is Show Desktop Icons, this may have somehow gotten unchecked.
If that happens your desktop icons are Hidden.

Go here...
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Read the instructions at the top.
Scroll down to and right click
72. Enable/Disable Desktop Icons
Save Taget As and save to your My Documents folder so that you can find it.

enabledisabledesktopicons.vbs is the file that you want.  You can run
enabledisabledesktopicons.vbs to hide or show the Desktop icons.
-----------

When you right click the desktop there may just be a huge delay.  Try it and
wait a while.

If there is a huge delay see these...

Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm

Right-click is extremely slow only when Network is enabled
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/rcdelay.htm

Signature

Hope this helps.  Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

> Thank you Wesley, you were right, i was able to get the toolbar off of my
> taskbar the way you said to, but i was not able to find a unused desktop
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> nothing about toggling it between a toolbar and the actual background
> screen, it's not setup to know a difference.
 
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