application fault

[Dagman]

Hi folks, does anyone know why my desktop icons have changed to a square basic icon and none of them will open? I can't even open them in the start menu. I've tried system restore, avg antivirus, registry mechanic but nothing works! When I click on any icon it says windows cannot open this file but even trying all sorts of stuff they won't open! I don't know why my internet is ok but my firewall isn't on as well as other progs normally on the taskbar! I can view picture files but not open music without selecting what to use first. What can I do??? Is there a fix somewhere?  Thanx :(

[Buenchico]

I'm sure that ABers could come up with all sorts of potential fixes which might or might not work but (as I seem to be suggesting a lot lately) the simplest way to tackle this looks like a re-installation of Windows. (If you've never done this before, don't panic. The thought of doing this scared me stiff for years but, once I'd tried it, I realized that an 'on-top' re-installation of Windows is a doddle: You don't lose any programs or files. The only thing you'll probably need to do is to re-install AVG). Of course, if you need instructions, you know where to ask!

Chris

[vehelpfulguy]

If you look back to 20/09/05 to a question someone asked with the title "icons", they had the same problem as you.

See some of the answers there.

[Ray the DJ]

This is usually caused by a virus.
Make sure your anti-virus definitions are up to date and do a full scan.
Now download a little application called TweakUI from:

www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui

It installs into your control panel.  Run the program and select 'Repair Icons'.

[Dagman]

Thanks all, up and running again, a pal informed me about pressing F8 on startup then I got the option to restart from a restore point here in safe mode. (couldn't do it the usual way via start>progs etc.!) Ran av and spybot, both found stuff! I'll get the Tweakui prog tho, again thanks all :)