Desktop and Quick Launch Icons Keep Rearranging

[Monroe]

OK ... I have a new problem ... my Desktop icons are OK for awhile, staying in the order that I place them, but every so often they are all mixed up when I turn the computer on. I have searched most of yesterday for a solution on Google and last week also. My Quick Launch Icons are also now acting up ... they are for the most staying in order but I added 5 new Quick Launch icons yesterday and every time I restart the computer those 5 icons are at the bottom of the Quick Launch list ... I must have put them back in the correct order now at least 12 times. My Desktop icons were out of order again this morning. I did try a "search" of this forum but I never get any results ... No matter what I put in the "search the forum" area, I always get "No results found".

I have 2 desktop restore programs on my computer so I can "fix" the Desktop icons problem but that's not a "solution" to me. I know of no program to fix the Quick Launch icons. I don't want to have to do this forever. Is there some sort of registry fix for both? I found this "registry fix" on Google but it doesn't seem to work.

1) Registry hack

Run regedit (start > run and type regedit)

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer.

Right-click in the right pane and select New, DWORD Value name it NoSaveSettings and press the Enter key.

Right-click on the new NoSaveSettings item and select Modify. Enter 1 in the Value data box.

Reboot to be sure and I think that should work.

I am going to try it again ... delete it and reinstall the fix. It may have worked for a time since my Desktop icons did stay in order for several days. Any help and ideas for a solution appreciated ... someone else must have run into this problem also. ... thanks

Edited March 23, 2011 by duffy98

[tomasz86]

1. How do you turn off your computer?

2. In case of Quick Launch go to X:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch and rename files by putting a number in front of each shortcut, i.e. 01. xxx, 02. xxx, 03. xxx, etc.

[Monroe]

Thanks for the reply ... well, the Quick Launch icons seems to have been "fixed" somehow. The last 5 times I have shut down and rebooted the computer ... the Quick Launch icons have stayed in the order I want them. However, the Desktop icons are still always going back to the same out of order mix, it's always the same exact order. I did install TweakUI v1.33 and the Layout.dll program since I first started this topic. ... also tried a couple of registry fixes ... nothing seems to fix the Desktop problem. I'm not sure I understand your question about how I shutdown the computer. I am logged on as Administrator and there are no other users/guests on this computer. I just go to Start ... the Shut Down tab and then Shut Down.

I will keep the information handy that you supplied dealing with the Quick Launch icons, in case they start acting up again. ... thanks

I tried this registry fix I found on Google ... it was to Save the Settings on Exit ... doesn't seem to work. Not sure if it was just for XP or also 2000.

Save Settings On Exit

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

"SystemTray"="SysTray.Exe"

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell]

"BagMRU Size"=dword:00001f40

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam]

"BagMRU Size"=dword:00001f40

Edited March 20, 2011 by duffy98

[tomasz86]

I asked the first question because I've had the same issue on my laptop when shutting it down by pressing the power button. On the other hand, everything is O.K. when I choose shut down from the start menu.

Anyway, there was a program for Win 9x which could save and restore desktop icons. Unfortunately I don't remember its name I'll look for it. I'll give you a link if I find it.

[Monroe]

thanks ... well a small update to post ... I was fooling around with the Administrator rights yesterday and I seemed to have lost the Administrator rights for good and most of my Desktop icons ... I was thinking the problem was in there (possibly) after reading a few things in some other older forums. I lost about 2 days of work ... installs and fixes ... and I only have about 4 Desktop icons left now, when I had about 16 before ... but I have a good Ghost backup from last Friday, so not everything is lost ... just the Saturday and Sunday stuff, which was a fair amount. I want to see if I can fix the Administrator thing first before doing the Ghost backup. However, in my searching around I came across a software program that someone wrote for a person that was also having the the Desktop icon problem. It's called Desklock and I haven't tried it yet ... want to experiment with it ... but it looks real interesting.

-------------------------------------------------------

Use DeskLock To Lock Your Desktop Icons

You must have wondered some time or the other about how to fix the position of your desktop icons. You arrange them spending an hour only to find that they are all “re-arranged” after you play a game. Annoying, isn’t it?

Well, DeskLock has come to the rescue. You can use this small utility to lock the desktop icons at their place. You won’t be able to move any icon now. All the icons are now locked at their specified positions. If you want to disable DeskLock, simply double click on its icon in the system tray or notification area.

Enjoy!

http://www.hacktrix.com/use-desklock-to-lock-your-desktop-icons

-----------------------------------------------------------

The guy was asking for help with this problem and someone at the forum made this little program ... he updated it twice to version 1.2 and disappeared. I am not sure what version this download is ... 1.0 ... 1.1 or 1.2 since I haven't worked with it yet. The guy was very happy with the program however, stopped his icons from moving around and the developer made a few changes and moved on ... I think the forum was from 2006. I also think the guy had the icon problem on Windows 2000 Pro so it should work ... I can't find the forum I was reading yesterday.

So this might be the way to go ... I also found two other programs that are suppose to "lock" the Desktop icons in place ... the downloads are on another computer so I don't have that information at hand right now. ... thanks

... this download says version 1.2 ...

DeskLock 1.2

June 8th, 2006

Freeware - Windows ALL

197 KB

Skrommel (That's the guy that was posting in the forum)

A small software application that doesn't allow you to move desktop icons.

This small utility prevents the moving of desktop icons.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Other-Desktop-Enhancements/DeskLock.shtml

-----------------------------------

Update ... well, I have several good Ghost backups in 3 stages with most everything installed and my icons are not acting up. Everything staying in the order that I placed them ... both Desktop and Quick Launch. I have no clue as to why there are no problems at this time ... I did install DeskLock and tried it but I decided to not run it for now ... perhaps it is still running somehow in the background ... so for now, I can install some larger items and see if my luck holds ... with the backups available for any screwups.

Edited March 23, 2011 by duffy98