Since IE7 Desktop Icons Revert To ..not Sure What

[Ex_Brit]

Ever since updating to final IE7 every few days my desktop icons will suddenly revert to some pre-historic state as shown in the pic below. I wouldn't care so much if it was the generic IE7 icon but this thing is only seen when Windows has no idea what's going on.
I've checked for viruses etc...nothing. I haven't run any registry cleaners. So what's with it?
I use AM deadlink to restore the icons to my Favorites folder then shortcut them to the desktop and they are restored...until the next time.

 

[mqudsi]

Windows XP has a known and verified bug that just can't be fixed (I've asked MS personally).

Basically, two parts: first is not really a bug but just the way things are, second is the actual bug.

1) It loses favicons (site-specific icons) because IE doesn't support downloading and saving them to the HD permenantly for security purposes. Every time you clear your temporary internet files or offline browser cache, it'll get reset.
2) After changing the default icon for .htm(l) files more than a certain number of times, you lose the icon forever.
It's a really weird bug, but I've verified it on a newly formatted PC. Just keep changing the icon for html files (install Dreamweaver, Frontpage, GoLive, Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, Internet Explorer, and Expression - it'll keep changing with every install until it dies).
There is no fix. Best I can recommend is tht you change your shortcut from something like

http://neosmart.net/

to

"c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe" [url]http://neosmart.net/[/url]

and that will force using the generic IE7 logo.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm glad it's not me, or my machine at fault. I found the following on a blog...it's an ie7icon.reg registry fix. It seems to work but only for a while. So it would appear that they still need to fix some parts of IE7.
I've always been able to fix this particular problem various ways, but one particular one is TweakUI, until IE7!!
Previously I knew not to clear "Offline webpages" when doing a disk cleanup. In Vista it doesn't seem to matter - I haven't had the same problem at all.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


[-HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url]
@="InternetShortcut"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\PersistentHandler]
@="{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\ShellEx\{000214EE-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\ShellEx\{000214F9-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\ShellEx\{00021500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\ShellEx\{CABB0DA0-DA57-11CF-9974-0020AFD79762}]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\.url\ShellEx\{FBF23B80-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"


[-HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\CLSID\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\CLSID\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}]
@="Internet Shortcut"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\CLSID\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}\InProcServer32]
@="shdocvw.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
"LoadWithoutCOM"=""

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\CLSID\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}\ProgID]
@="InternetShortcut"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\CLSID\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}\shellex]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\CLSID\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]
@=""


[-HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut]
@="Internet Shortcut"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000002
"IsShortcut"=""
"NeverShowExt"=""
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\CLSID]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,75,00,72,00,\
6c,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell]
@=""

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\open]
"CLSID"="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"
"LegacyDisable"=""

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\open\command]
@="rundll32.exe shdocvw.dll,OpenURL %l"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\print]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\print\command]
@=hex(2):72,00,75,00,6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,\
00,20,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,\
25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,73,\
00,68,00,74,00,6d,00,6c,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,\
6e,00,74,00,48,00,54,00,4d,00,4c,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,31,00,22,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\printto]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shell\printto\command]
@=hex(2):72,00,75,00,6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,\
00,20,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,\
25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,73,\
00,68,00,74,00,6d,00,6c,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,\
6e,00,74,00,48,00,54,00,4d,00,4c,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,31,00,22,00,20,00,22,\
00,25,00,32,00,22,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,33,00,22,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,34,00,\
22,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}]
@=""

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex\IconHandler]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex\PropertyHandler]
@="{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}"

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

[HKEY_CLassES_ROOT\InternetShortcut\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\{FBF23B40-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}]
@=""

 

[mqudsi]

Yep.
Vista fixed it so I guess thank God for that. But on XP no one has been able to pin the bug. It's not in any of the normal places, it would seem to be a real mistake in the code and not the configuration of your system.