Hello, I have this issue with my desktop shortcut icons. They looked normal at first but at some point they changed, and started showing a weird CD (disc) in front of them. Here's a link to a screenshot of my desktop where you can see what I mean. It is the four icons on the bottom right hand side. http://krayzpaki.deviantart.com/art/trapped-in-a-box-146942165 While it isnt really harmful, its bothering me because I can't figure out why it is like that. Thanks for any help. cheers, Yousuf

Your link doesn't work, File Not Found page comes up. Have you checked your machine for virus and malware? How long has this been occuring? Do you have a restore point created prior to that occuring? You may want to clear the icon cache database. The icon cache can be cleared by deleting the hidden file named IconCache.db in the following location: %userprofile%\AppData\Local Note: %userprofile% represents the path to user profile folder. Rebuilding the Icon Cache Database 1. Close all folder windows that are currently open. 2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe. 3. In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process. 4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation. 5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…) 6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK 7. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command: CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\LocalDEL IconCache.db /aEXIT 8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…) 9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK. This will rebuild the icon cache database MCSE, MCSA, MCDST

Hi, This issue also can be caused by third party program. If this issue happens after installing some program, please temporarily remove it to check the results. As for the screenshot. You can upload the collected files to SkyDrive, and let me know the URL by replying this thread. Regarding SkyDrive: As an important note, if you do not want others to access the uploaded files, when uploading the file, please expand the "Share with" box, choose "Select people...", and then type my Windows Live ID "v-vxin@hotmail.com" (without the quotation marks) in the Individual box. For detailed steps on how to upload files with SkyDrive, please refer to: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/4fc10639-02db-4665-993a-08d865088d65Vivian Xing - MSFT

sorry about the link...missed one digit when copying it. proper one is: http://krayzpaki.deviantart.com/art/trapped-in-a-box-146942165 thanks for your reply and suggestions. will try it out to see if it works. I did look around and found one solution which involves changing the registry, it does work. so I think that should be good enough, but it doesnt seem like the proper solution.

It looks like it's using the wrong shortcut icon overlay. Did you try to use a program that removes the shortcut arrows? If this was helpful, please vote. If it solves the issue, please click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

You may want to clear the icon cache database. The icon cache can be cleared by deleting the hidden file named IconCache.db in the following location: %userprofile%\AppData\Local Note: %userprofile% represents the path to user profile folder. Rebuilding the Icon Cache Database 1. Close all folder windows that are currently open. 2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe . 3. In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select E nd Process . 4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation. 5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select N ew Task (Run…) 6. Type CMD.EXE , and click OK 7. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command: CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local DEL IconCache.db /a EXIT 8. In Task Manager, click File , select N ew Task (Run…) 9. Type EXPLORER.EXE , and click OK . This will rebuild the icon cache database Is there a way to do this without killing explorer.exe? I hate losing my system tray icons that don't return from Explorer kills/crashes. :(Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx).

Thank you very much for sharing this solution, it really helps me to fix my icons problem. i just want to two questions. what are the reasons why icons experiencing that kind of problem, and what are the steps to prevent it...?