Plz Help! Attack of the Desktop Clones...

[FriedSpam]

Er.... I was cleaning up my harddrive deleting stuff I didn't think I needed..... (I know the classic start to any computer screw-up story)

... and I must have deleted something which I shouldn't have done (probably from the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users folder). Now eveything on my desktop is doubled with each copy actually being the same file! -if you delete one, the other vanishes.

Anyone know what I need to do to remedy this?
-please don't just reply to call me a fool ,,, :wings

-oh, and I emptied the recylce bin which caused the desktop to refresh and this was when I noticed the problem, so I can't just restore everything I deleted :bk

[MoonMan]

What OS are you running ?

If you are running Windows ME or XP, then you can try a system restore.

Don't know if they are different but go here (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/systemrestore.asp) for XP system restore information and go here (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsME/using/computerhealth/articles/systemrestore.asp) for ME system restore.

[Undying Wizard NHD]

woh

never heard of this one-- sounds like your fucked


just delet all the sortcuts -- and make new ones of want you need.



dont understand wht happend here tho




and wht is not a sortcut move the file to a folder, may have made sortcuts to all the files on the desk top, make sure you save the file and not a sortcut

[FriedSpam]

sorry.... win XP

-and, umm, I've got system restore turned off (ok then, you can call me a fool....)

I can't just delete all the icons and put new ones there as the same thing happens. When I put anything on the desktop, a double magically appears. It must be the same file as if I move or delete one of the files, the copy alters itself to match.

-just thought of another thing it might be.... I moved things over from the 'All Users' profile to the profile I always use (as there is no-one else using this computer and so I thought it'd be better to have eg. all the start menu items in the same profile instead of using the ones in my profile in combination with the ones in the All Users profile -If that makes sense?)

so maybe I've got two copies of some file -which tells windows what's on the desktop- in the same profile now which might be confusing things?

-anyone know if there is such a file?

[MoonMan]

OK this may help, try downloading Service Pack 1 (http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/default.asp) and installing it to repair any damage that may have occured.

[FriedSpam]

Thanks! I'm downloading it now, I'll let you know how I get on.

Might take me a while, though, as I'm on a 56k dial-up with an ISP that disconnects me every two hours.

Know a good download accellerator? -I've heard Flashget is a good one so I might try that...

[Omyn]

Just reinstall your operating system.

Pretty soon we wont even have to screw up our own computers, with companies like the RIAA they can offer you this great service FREE OF CHARGE!

how cool is that?!

[johnsmatrix]

I don't know personally but here is a post taken from the forum on www.computing.net

Shortcuts on the Desktop come from one of the following two folders:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
or
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Desktop

where username denotes a your user account configured on the computer.
--------------
Maybe you have the same shortcut in both.
If you do, then delete one.
-------------
Also, I would like to say that you should consider getting more RAM.
XP uses all of 128 to run properly.

[rctempire]

FriedSpam sounds like he has NTL dial up service lol this is shocking how they limit there downloads to 1GB a day but it sounds like SP1 will fix this problem

[nasrules]

Originally posted by rctempire
FriedSpam sounds like he has NTL dial up service lol this is shocking how they limit there downloads to 1GB a day but it sounds like SP1 will fix this problem

How come NTL? Loads of ISPs do that.

I'm on 600k NTL and often download over a 1gb in a 24-hour period. They don't do anything when you do, it's more of a request that you don't.

[jonnymnemonic]

If it's MODEM dial-up service, then 1 GB per day is *plenty*. A fully saturated 56k connection running 24 straight houes wouldn't be able to download 1 GB anyway, so the limitation is really just the connection technology, not the ISP. If it's anything faster than a modem, then a 1 GB daily limit sucks, unless the ISP is dirt cheap, or free.

[The Gauge]

FriedSpam, forget SP1, I've had this problem before and fixed it. I'll try to remember what I did....

The windows registry contains entries that tell windows where to look for desktop files. One entry is for All Users, the other is for individual user profiles.

When you deleted the All Users folder, Windows altered the All Users\Desktop registry entry and replaced it with your <Username>\Desktop location instead.

What this means is that each time you create a shortcut on your desktop, Windows has TWO registry entries that point to the same folder inside Documents and Settings and your shortcut appears twice.

All you need to do is find both these registry entries and make sure that one points to All Users\Desktop, and the other points to <Username>\Desktop.

Try looking at these registry entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ User Shell Folders

The entry called "Desktop" should say:
"%USERPROFILE%\Desktop"

then...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ User Shell Folders

The entry called "Desktop" should say:
"%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop"

I think correcting these will fix your problem. There could well be other entries in these folders that need to be corrected as well.

If I'm right, I think when you log-on, XP takes the registry entries above, parses the system variables and writes the whole drive location into Explorer \ Shell Folders \ Desktop. It's the entries with the variables you need to be changing. Don't forget to reboot after you've made the changes.

Gauge

[-0-BACKLASH-0-]

did u delete the ~ file ?

[FriedSpam]

yeah, I did delete the ~ file. Was that wrong?

The Gauge - Cheers for the solution. Wish I'd been a bit more patient....

.... I tried installing SP1a but for some reason after a short period of time the installer kept quitting.

-so I decided it was probably time to do a clean install of the OS. It'd been about a year anyway so I'm probably better off having done that anyway.


Well I'm up to the stage of installing all the updates and patches from MS.

Anyone got any views on 811493: Security Update (Windows XP)?
-I've installed it in the past and have had to uninstall it as it seems to slow my system down tremendously! On my dad's computer it seems to produce system hangs. I've heard that the version on the update site has been fixed (so MS say) but I've also heard it's just as bad as the original. Do I really need it?

oh yeah, and these:-

Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1
Windows Media Player 9 Series (Windows XP)

Heard bad things about them (DRM, dodgy EULA, etc. etc.) Is it best to give them a miss? -I usually use the Core Media Player for everything anyway.

Any other updates or patches I shouldn't install?

Thanks for your help, I just want to get it right this time!

BTW - I am on NTL. Just wish they'd scrap the 2 hour limit. It's not if it actually works as from win 2000 MS introduced auto-reconnect and before that you could do this using 3rd party software anyway.

[Theinfamousone]

I don't think you need any of those updates, but I've never seen any problems like that with any updates.

[The Gauge]

I've installed 811493 on several Win2K boxes at work and it hangs during installation each time. On reboot, though, WinUpd always thinks it's installed.

Something dodgy about it.