icons not displaying properly

In the last day various icons on my computer - on the desktop, in the
quicklaunch bar and in the start menu - have not been displaying properly.
Instead of the icon, there appears to be thin vertical stripes where the icon
should be making it almost invisible.

At first I restarted my computer to see if it was just a quirk but it keeps
happening again, although the icons it affects are not consistent. After one
restart it even affected the cursor to the extent that all I could see was
what looked like a thin barcode on the screen where the pointer should have
been.

I'm using XP SP2 and am updated as far as I know. I have not installed any
new programs in the past week and Norton says I'm free of viruses, so I'm at
a bit of a loss. I'm not even sure where or how to trouble shoot. Any
advice would be much appreciated!

Brian R. wrote:
> In the last day various icons on my computer - on the desktop, in the
> quicklaunch bar and in the start menu - have not been displaying properly.
> Instead of the icon, there appears to be thin vertical stripes where the icon
> should be making it almost invisible.
>
> At first I restarted my computer to see if it was just a quirk but it keeps
> happening again, although the icons it affects are not consistent. After one
> restart it even affected the cursor to the extent that all I could see was
> what looked like a thin barcode on the screen where the pointer should have
> been.
>
> I'm using XP SP2 and am updated as far as I know. I have not installed any
> new programs in the past week and Norton says I'm free of viruses, so I'm at
> a bit of a loss. I'm not even sure where or how to trouble shoot. Any
> advice would be much appreciated!

This might help:

Line 121. Increase Icon Cache
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
Joe =o)

Brian R. wrote:
> In the last day various icons on my computer - on the desktop, in the
> quicklaunch bar and in the start menu - have not been displaying properly.
> Instead of the icon, there appears to be thin vertical stripes where the icon
> should be making it almost invisible.
>
> At first I restarted my computer to see if it was just a quirk but it keeps
> happening again, although the icons it affects are not consistent. After one
> restart it even affected the cursor to the extent that all I could see was
> what looked like a thin barcode on the screen where the pointer should have
> been.
>
> I'm using XP SP2 and am updated as far as I know. I have not installed any
> new programs in the past week and Norton says I'm free of viruses, so I'm at
> a bit of a loss. I'm not even sure where or how to trouble shoot. Any
> advice would be much appreciated!

This might help:

Line 121. Increase Icon Cache
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
Joe =o)

"Brian R." wrote
> "Elmo" wrote:
>
>> This might help:
>>
>> Line 121. Increase Icon Cache
>> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
>
>
> Thanks Joe -- except the website is down. At least it gives me a
> direction
> to explore. I'm sure that info is out there somewhere else. I'm not an
> icon abuser though!

That site works fine here.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

"Brian R." wrote
> "Elmo" wrote:
>
>> This might help:
>>
>> Line 121. Increase Icon Cache
>> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
>
>
> Thanks Joe -- except the website is down. At least it gives me a
> direction
> to explore. I'm sure that info is out there somewhere else. I'm not an
> icon abuser though!

That site works fine here.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

Brian R. wrote:
>
> "Rock" wrote:
>
>> That site works fine here.
>
> When I go there I get a 404 page: site cannot be found. I dunno?
>
> I found instructions on changing the icon cache here:
> http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5164407.html
>
> and changed Max Cached Icons to 2000 but it still hasn't solved the problem.
> Am I doing the right thing? Any more ideas?

That could be a hardware problem with the graphics, I suppose. And,
although this is suggested every time there's a unique problem, have you
checked for malware, both adware and virus/trojans? Any new virus can
cripple Norton, or whatever a/v used, long before it's identified in the
wild and your definitions are updated. Once the malware gets a grip on
your system, it prevents the a/v software from getting updates. An
online a/v check might find something..

Try one of these free online virus scans:

This one has a choice of a Quick or a Complete check. Always try the
complete check.
http://www.pcpitstop.com/

Symantec
http://security.symantec.com/default.asp?productid=ssr&langid=ie&venid=sym

<url:http://security2.norton.com/us/home.asp?j=1&venid=sym&langid=us&plfid=20&pkj=IHBEXIBVEMBQAUWZKTK>
then click the Security check link.

http://housecall.antivirus.com/ free online virus scan

http://www.ewido.net/en/

--
Joe =o)

Brian R. wrote:
>
> "Rock" wrote:
>
>> That site works fine here.
>
> When I go there I get a 404 page: site cannot be found. I dunno?
>
> I found instructions on changing the icon cache here:
> http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5164407.html
>
> and changed Max Cached Icons to 2000 but it still hasn't solved the problem.
> Am I doing the right thing? Any more ideas?

That could be a hardware problem with the graphics, I suppose. And,
although this is suggested every time there's a unique problem, have you
checked for malware, both adware and virus/trojans? Any new virus can
cripple Norton, or whatever a/v used, long before it's identified in the
wild and your definitions are updated. Once the malware gets a grip on
your system, it prevents the a/v software from getting updates. An
online a/v check might find something..

Try one of these free online virus scans:

This one has a choice of a Quick or a Complete check. Always try the
complete check.
http://www.pcpitstop.com/

Symantec
http://security.symantec.com/default.asp?productid=ssr&langid=ie&venid=sym

<url:http://security2.norton.com/us/home.asp?j=1&venid=sym&langid=us&plfid=20&pkj=IHBEXIBVEMBQAUWZKTK>
then click the Security check link.

http://housecall.antivirus.com/ free online virus scan

http://www.ewido.net/en/

--
Joe =o)