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How-To Geek Forums / Windows XP
(Solved) - Icons on desktop cannot be removed
(42 posts)while surffing the web several months ago I entered a website that attached itself to my desktop. I have tried everything to remove them but to no avail. I am running XP Home sp2. nothing is affected by these icons, however they are of some porn nature, not the icon rather the title. When I right click the icon I see Open EDIT PREVIEW PRINT OPEN WITH and SEND TO. None of these functions do anything. I even downloaded a free file shreder and when I tried to drag the icon into it, nothing happened. It almost seems to act like a ghost. How do I get ride of something like this?
Hi Tomween. Download this . Rename the file in your Desktop folder, and then delete it. Post back if you need more help.
http://www.freecommander.com/
If FreeCommander doesn't help try this:
Open Control Panel
Double click Display
Click the Desktop tab
Click Customize Desktop
Click the Web tab
If a web site is listed and checked click the delete button
Click ok and click ok
Sorry It's taken so long and thanks for the responses. 1, I don't quite understand free commander! I did download it and it basically shows all the information about my entire computer. Ok? 2, I cannot rename the icons on my desktop, at least the 2 in question. When I right click either icon, all I see is Open, Edit, Preview, Print, Open With and send to. Upon clicking on any one of these items nothing happens, except for open with. I have tried to open these 2 with every open with offering and again nothing happens.
I have tried the Control panel method and just tried it again. There is nothing there to delete.
Still stuck. Keep in mind these icons have been here for several months and I have tried many different methods of removal. Shredders, desktop cleaners, desk top scanners etc none of these do anything. They almost seem to be ghost's.
Have you tried the Desktop Cleanup Wizard? It should be available by right clicking on the desktop;it should be seen after the 'arrange icons by'.
The desktop cleaner doesn't notice them. The are jpg files. these attached themselves to my desktop when I found them in my browser history and deleated them. It wasn't untill later (that same day) when I exited the internet and was back at my desktop had I noticed them. They both seem to be porn. It says they are 184kb and 63kb both jpg
Have you tried dragging the icons to the recycle bin?
Yes, it jumps back to where i dragged it from. It seems to be nothing but an empty shell. It can't be opened it does nothing. Interestingly enough, and something that may be unrelated this seemed to appear around the same time my computer was hit by the XP Antivirus hit my system. all of my spyware blocked it but it slowed the computer down. McAfee helped me remove all parts of the virus. I wonder if when all that was removed if I didn't also remove something that directed these icons?
Tomween1,
(ENSURE) you have tried (EXACTLY) what (jd2066) suggested above.
If that doesn't work, this is an old registry tweak (trick) best explained in the below link.
Let us know if this trick works.
Kindest Regards,
Rick P. ♥
It does mot. it doesn't register on the web tab, and again freecommander didn't help either. It would appear I am stuck with these ghosts forever!
Tom, have you been able to find the file in Explorer that creates those icons? They must be somewhere; at least they *should* be somewhere. Since you don't have properties on the context menu, we can't look up the filename, so try a search.
* Search for the files by name. Just put in enough letters so it's unlikely you will get a lot of extra hits. Can you find them?
* Check in every 'Desktop' folder. If your system is like mine, you may have accumulated a number of User folders each with their own Desktop folder in C:Documents and Settings(user)Desktop. I have Administrator, All Users, Default User, LocalService, Scott, and more! Any one of these Desktop folders could hold the ghostly icons.
If you can find the location of the files, you can delete them.
Please could you tell us the names of these 2 files?
One starts with xxxxxxxxxxxxx. I have also noticed as of today I cannot change any of my display settings. Upon entering control panel, display, appearance (tab) then advanced. When I try to reconfigure my settings in the advanced screen they change then when I click ok it never offers me the ability to apply. This may be unrelated but I have never tried to change this before,
First of all, run Spybot Search and Destroy. I'm not sure where you download it, just google it. Have it update, then click 'Scan Computer'. If it finds nothing, try a few online virus scanners, i know mcafee/trend microsystems (housecall)/and Nod32 all have a good online scanner.
Second of all, right click the files, press properties(if properties don't exist, try highlighting one and press 'alt-enter'), check to see if 'Read-only' is checked. If it is, uncheck it. Also check file permissions, your account, or the administrators group should have complete control of the file. Then try to delete it. If that doesn't work...
What you might be able to do is boot the computer into recovery mode from the xp install cd (load setup, it will ask you something about 'enter to install, F6 for fix mode or something like that). Type
cd 'C:/Documents and Settings/<username>/Desktop' (change <username> to your username)
del '<insert file names here>'
Hopefully that will work.
EDITAdded Spybot S&D
EDIT 2Online Virus Scanners?
Tomween1,
This is where the Desktop Icons reside.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionexplorerDesktopNameSpace
Below NameSpace, you'll see CLSID strings like {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
The icons have to be in these CLSIDs.
Kindest Regards,
Rick P. ♥ :)
Ok I've gone through the HKEY through the CLSID strings. There are 4 strings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerDesktopNameSpace{1f4de370-d627-11d1-ba4f-00a0c91eedba}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerDesktopNameSpace{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerDesktopNameSpace{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerDesktopNameSpace{e17d4fc0-5564-11d1-83f2-00a0c90dc849}
How do I determine if any of these CLSID's are the ones I am looking for. Upon clicking on each one they give no indication of being what i'm looking for. What am I to do next? Thanks.
Any sugestions on the display settings issue?
Tomween1,
DARN !!!! THOSE ARE EXACTLY CORRECT. DO NOTHING !!!! CLOSE REGISTRY.
Ensure ALL files are (NOT) hidden.
Open search and do a search on C: drive for *.jpg files with (ADVANCED SEARCH FEATURES CHECKED).
Open up every picture the search finds.
If NO-JOY, do same for *.bmp files.
Continue process for all common image formats.
I KNOW this is long and hard HOWEVER those Pictures have to be on that machine somewhere !!!!
Post back PLEASE. This intrigues me.
Kindest Regards,
Rick P. ♥ :)
Well they were both found but... they acted the same as if they were on the desktop. Doesn't let me do anything!
Ok here's another real stumper... When I found the files through search i clicked on the icon to highlight (this was after clicking on the icon and being directed to my desktop files) then on the top of the page I clicked on File this of corse give you the folder information. All that is present here is the file name (at the very top along w/ the X Minimize and maximize boxes) It doesn't have ANY file information... NOTHING at all! WHAT?
Tomween1,
What folder did you find the files in ??
You are confusing me.
Make sure ALL files are (NOT) hidden.
Go into COMMAND (CMD) mode and navigate using attib switches and delete the files that way.
Go to help and type in attrib to learn about switches.
Kinda like using Dos.
Post back if you don't understand or if I'm missing something here.
Kindest Regards,
Rick P. ♥ :)
Tom, I'm confused about your description as well. I tried to re-create the steps that you describe and still can't figure it out.
Back on the Search Results window, you should have a 'Name' column, then an 'In Folder' column. What folder are the 2 files in? My plan after that is the same as raphoenix: go to a command prompt and delete the files from there.
Sorry for the confusion. 1, I went to search. In, all or part of the file name, I entered a part of the name. It would appear, I then highlighted the file then went to the top of the search page and clicked on 'File'. In the drop down menu I selected 'Properties'. The Properties box comes up (with the file name at the top) with absolutely nothing in the file, such as Type of file: Opens with: Location: etc
OK, I made an assumption about your search results window. Mine comes up in the 'Details' view, but there are several other views available and I suspect you are seeing a different one. The File -> Properties selection is the same as you would get from a right-click on the icon and selecting Properties. However, you have already said that Properties is not on the context menu for these weird icons, so it's not really surprising that it doesn't work from the file menu either.
It's time to get tough with these files. We are going to use the Command Prompt on them. To simulate the commands and output, I created two empty files on my desktop so they would be found. Here are the commands you would run and some 'sample' output:
[CODE]
C:Documents and SettingsScottW>cd
[/CODE][CODE]
C:>dir 'aa best'* /s /a
Volume in drive C is WinXP
Volume Serial Number is FC1B-D472
[/CODE][CODE]
Directory of C:Documents and SettingsScottWDesktop
[/CODE][CODE]
09/10/2008 20:01 0 AA BEST ANGELA DEVI
1 File(s) 0 bytes
[/CODE][CODE]
Total Files Listed:
1 File(s) 0 bytes
0 Dir(s) 5,376,577,536 bytes free
[/CODE][CODE]
C:>
C:>dir 'beautiful'* /s /a
Volume in drive C is WinXP
Volume Serial Number is FC1B-D472
[/CODE][CODE]
Directory of C:Documents and SettingsScottWDesktop
[/CODE][CODE]
09/10/2008 20:00 0 Beautiful PENELOPE CRUZ
1 File(s) 0 bytes
[/CODE][CODE]
Total Files Listed:
1 File(s) 0 bytes
0 Dir(s) 5,376,577,536 bytes free
[/CODE]
Have you tried using Ulocker Assistant? http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/downloads/2172511/unlocker
right click>unlocker. if no locking handles are found it will ask what you want to do. in the drop-down menu choose 'delete', if the program is unable to delete at that time it will ask if you want it deleted at the next system reboot.
PalmTrees, thanks for the try but... unlocker doesn't show up in the drop dawn box for either of these icons. I do. however, like this program, Thanks.
Scott 2 things, 1 I tried your method. I found it along w/ all the information, What do I do w/ it. Can it be deleated from here? 2, From another search of the net I found a blog site that recomended cmd prompt C:|> RD /S 'file name' enter. I did this and it turned out not to be identified??
Tom, when you run the dir command and it finds the files, it should show us where it is located. In the example session that I did above, the files were in 'C:Documents and SettingsScottWDesktop'. Where does the dir command find the files on your system? The next step would be to delete the files with the del command which deletes files. The rd command that you saw stands for remove directory.
Right, so using the above example, the deletion process would be like this:
[CODE]
cd 'C:Documents and SettingsScottWDesktop'
del /f 'aa best'*
del /f beautiful*
[/CODE]
The quotes shown are required because the directories and file names have spaces in them. The /f switch on the del command is a 'force' option. There are some files that can resist even this forced delete, so don't worry if it doesn't work the first time. There are more commands we can throw at those files.
Scott is there a way to copy what I see in DOS. I searched the web but couldn't find any direct answer. If there is I'll copy the info listed and paste it for you to view. What does /f represent/? Am I CDing before entering all following? ex. C:XXX XXXXXXXXX XX/>CD enter C:/ and then documents and settings/ ....
Scott here is one of the exact folders spelled out. can you please type out exactly what I should do w/ it so I can cut and paste it to DOS and see where it leads me. lindsay lohan olsen twins paris hilton hillary duff angelina jolie jennifer lopes emma watson jamie pressley britney spears pamela anderson katie holmes mariah carey.jpg
Tom, that is some filename? Wow! To copy some output from a command prompt window, right-click and select Mark, then use the mouse to highlight the text that you want, then press Enter. The text is now in the clipboard and can be pasted in a post here. Please post the output of the dir commands because I'm very curious to see what the file path is.
The commands I gave above are in order, with one entire command per line. So you would do the whole cd command on one line, and then move on to the 'del /f' command. The /f stands for 'force' and will delete files with the read-only attribute set. There are other attributes that might interfere with the deletion, but we will burn that bridge if we come to it.
Ok here you go. Hope this rells you something.
#1
C:>dir 'AA BEST ANGELA DEVI xxxx'* /s /a
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 4C6C-E9E9
Directory of C:Documents and SettingsFamilyDesktop
04/05/2007 01:20 PM 64,907 AA BEST ANGELA DEVI xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx lindsay lohan olsen twins paris hilton hil
lary duff angelina jolie jennifer lopez emma watson jaime pressley britney spear
s pamela anderson katie holmes mariah carey.jpg
1 File(s) 64,907 bytes
Total Files Listed:
1 File(s) 64,907 bytes
0 Dir(s) 242,326,872,064 bytes free
#2
C:>dir 'Beautiful PENELOPE CRUZ'* /s /a
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 4C6C-E9E9
Directory of C:Documents and SettingsFamilyDesktop
04/05/2007 01:00 PM 189,297 Beautiful PENELOPE CRUZ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(search xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx lindsay lohan emma watson hermione olsen twins brit
ney spears xxxxxxxxl.jpg
1 File(s) 189,297 bytes
Total Files Listed:
1 File(s) 189,297 bytes
0 Dir(s) 242,326,851,584 bytes free
Thanks, Tom
Aha! So the directory is C:Documents and SettingsFamilyDesktop which suggests that there is a user account called 'Family' on the system. If the account you login with is a member of the admin group, you should be able to delete the files. Here are the commands, modified for use on your system:
[CODE]
cd 'C:Documents and SettingsFamilyDesktop'
del /f 'AA BEST'*.jpg
del /f BEAUTIFUL*.jpg
[/CODE]
If it works, you're done and your icons should be gone. If it spits out an error message, paste it here. Now, please edit your last post and take out those file names. This is a family friendly forum!
Try to delete it in safemode.
please follow these:
-before windows logo comming ( booting) ,press f8.
-select safe mode
-when you loged on,go to run and type cmd.
-in cmd command,type: cd desktop
-in cmd command,type:del youricon.extention ( maybe be html,php or htm ).
-you can find extention files with doing these guides:
1.click on my computer,point to tools tab and click on folder option.
2.on folder option go to view tab,unmark this ' hide unkhown extention'.
after these,click on rebooting or restarting!
hope work fine this guides!
Scott... IT WORKED! I'm sure it's not to your surprise, however it did work and I thank you. Now that that's cleared up I have another question to pose. Cleaning the system of files not necessary to the computer. My son has used this many times and once in a while, when in 'Search' all files and folders, I'll see something that really shouldn't be in the system so I delete it. But that's by chance. How do you see everything in the system and no what should be deleted? Another separate question, Does anyone know anything about Mozilla? Is it as good as say Trend Micro, McAfee or Spy-ware Doctor?
Scott again Many thanks, Tom
Tom, hooray! The naughty icons are gone! Ding, Dong! The wicked witch is dead!
The most popular program for cleaning up is CCleaner. Not only will it clean up old junk, but it will show you the files that it is going to erase before doing it. CCleaner is freeware. You could do manual cleaning using the File Explorer in Windows, but it's not really necessary. Also, deleting the wrong file could cause some problems. To know what can be deleted requires knowledge and experience. CCleaner has been around a long time and has a large customer base. That accumulated knowledge is built into the software.
Mozilla is the name of a software application and also the name of the organization, the Mozilla Foundation, that makes it. They also make the Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird e-mail client, and more. However, they do NOT make any anti-virus or anti-spyware software which is what Trend Micro, McAfee and the makers of Spyware Doctor are best known for. What is it that you are looking for?
Scott, I am currently running all three anti spy-ware and am up for renewal. I've got to believe that there is a single anti spy-ware I can get (maybe even freeware) that doesn't cost a fortune. I just don't know. It seems all we are exposed to are the high cost software styles.
Running 3 antispyware programs together can cause significant trouble. You should have one that is highly rated. Opinions vary, but Kaspersky, G-Data, Norton IS rate high. With a free versions you get what you pay for - I would not recommend those freebees.
whs , thanks, My McAfee is a free version. It comes with my Comcast bundel. It's very basic and doesn't do much. I've run Spyware Doctor for the past year and am currently running Trendmicro's free trial. (Spy. Dr. turned off). I'll look at the orhers you mentioned/ Thank you.
Should you, by any chance, be fluent in German, I could point you to the website of a big German computer mag that offers the full version of Kaspersky for free for 1 year. But you really have to know German well, it is all in German - the website, the instructions and the Kaspersky.
I am not a fan of Spyware Doctor. I once bought the full version myself and installed it. It gave me all kinds of problems. But that may have been particular to my setup. And in the industry comparisons they never rate very high.
Here is a reputable site that does comparisons. You may find this interesting http://www.av-comparatives.org/index.html?http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/overview.html
Nein Ich spreche kein Deutsch (No I don't speak German) had to use my IGoogle for that. To bad I wasn't aware of this several years ago. When my kids were younger my wife and I had a German Au Pair living w/ us. That would have helped. Oh well I'll go with your second suggestion. Thanks, Tom
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