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General discussion

Problems with icons in start menu.

Nov 27, 2003 6:56PM PST

I have PENTIUM III, processor-GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 8 697 MHz Stepping 6, RAM-128MB, oerating sys.windows-4.10 (Build 2222 A ),
the problem is the icons in my START menu are not appropriate to the programs, I looked in folder options/file types but it didn't help.
Please help.

Discussion is locked

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Please explain ...
Nov 27, 2003 8:00PM PST

"the icons in the start menu are not appropiate to the programs". This is just not understandable, and won't lead to useful help.

Give a few examples that work, and give a few examples that don't work. Right click on the last ones, and choose properties. Then post the contents of those properties, and what you expect the icon to do.

Waiting to hear from you.


Kees

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Re:Please explain ...
Nov 27, 2003 8:19PM PST

E.g. when I click start menu, choose -find- there are following ops: 1>files or folders,
2>computer,
3>people,
the problem is Power point sheet icon at <files or folders>;
Excel sheet icon at<computer> and so on, howewer these shortcuts works properly just icons do not correspond should be different,
I tried to fix icons in folder options-file types but
could not. Thank You.

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I got the problem ...
Nov 28, 2003 3:23AM PST

but, alas, not the definitive solution.

I do have a 'files or folders' under start find. And more: 'computer' (because of network card for cable internet, I think), 'on the internet' (which opens ie with msn search), 'work with microsoft outlook' (which lets me search for any outlook related items and ms office files in my documents), persons (whcih lets me search my own address book or some internet directories), 'file finder' (which comes with powerdesk) and 'search for audio and video' (which comes with real audio, and doesn't seem to work because it's an old version). And I never never use any of them here (and hardly any of them in explorer).

And they all have their own icons, as it should be. Not ms office related icons, as with you.
It must be something wrong in the registry, I think. But the registry is very big, and very undocumented.

I found something which you might like to try, if you feel confident to use regedit. In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FindExtensions\Static
I find most of the items mentioned above (but not the defaults ('files of folders', which might be hidden under a 'class'), only the extensions. Opening any of them gives a key named 'Defaulticon'. The default icon of 'outlook find' is C:\PROGRAM FILES\OFFIC97\OFFICE\olkfstub.dll,0 (which means icon 0 in the olkfstub.dll).

So all you've got to do is (a) find the location in the registry where the icons are referenced, (b) find a correctly working windows 98 system to see what they should be, and (c) edit them to those values in your system.
Suggestions for a search: string 'DefaultIcon', name of file you suspect icon to be in (like excel.exe or olkfstub.dll), or text of search item (like 'files or folders').

This being only cosmetic and given the risk of editing things you don't know, I would advice to leave it as it is. If you want to try, be sure you know how scanreg /restore works.

Kees

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Re:Re:Please explain ...
Nov 28, 2003 5:41AM PST

RGribuska, It wouldn't hurt to try these possible fixes.
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this behavior, use one or more of the following methods:
Press the F5 key to refresh the icons in the current folder.
Close and then reopen a window that contains incorrect icons.
Restart your computer.
Re-create the ShellIconCache file. This file is re-created automatically when you change your display's color depth. Follow these steps to change your display's color depth to a new setting and then change it back to the original setting:
Right-click the desktop and then click Properties.
Click the Settings tab.
Change the color depth from the current setting to a new setting. For example, change from Highest (32 bit) to Lowest (16 bit).
Click Apply, and then click Yes to accept the changes.
Change the color depth back to its original setting.
Click Apply, and then click Yes to accept the changes.
Using Registry Editor, add the Max Cached Icons string value with a value data of 2000 to the following registry key, and then restart your computer:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

If the icons are still incorrect, delete the ShellIconCache file. The Max Cached Icons value data range is between 100 and 4096. The default value is 500.


HTH
Larry

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Re:Re:Re:Please explain ...
Nov 28, 2003 9:23PM PST

Many thanks, Larry. I tried what you suggested and finally deleted ShellIcon file, it worked, so far all ok.
Thank You.
Raimonds.

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Re:Re:Re:Re:Please explain ...
Nov 28, 2003 10:19PM PST

Raimonds, Glad to see that all is OK again and Thanks for posting back to let us know.

Larry