Desktop icons appear malformed?

Infopackets Reader Ron E. 'fiftylakesfox' writes:

" I recently ran Safe Mode (under Windows ME) and after restarting my computer, almost all my Desktop icons showed up with the blue big "E" (as in Internet Explorer).

I used the Microsoft 'System Restore' feature, but it didn't help at all. I've contacted Microsoft about this problem but haven't received a response in over two days. You or your readers are probably best source to help me get my hijacked icons back. Any suggestions? PS: Thanks very much for providing such an excellent newsletter. "

My response:

This has happened to me a few times before, and to date, I don't know why this problem manifests. I've managed to resolve the issue most of the time by using one of two methods (described below). However, I would be very interested to hear from Infopackets Readers for alternative solutions.

Alternative Suggestion #1: Resize your desktop icons and Reboot

In Windows XP, Click Start -> [Settings] -> Control Panel, then launch the Display icon. Go to the Appearance tab, then select Advanced. Next, select the 'icons' option from the pull-down menu. Change the icon size to 1/2 of whatever is currently the default value (if it's 32, try 16), then click the Apply button. At this point, the desktop icons should now resize and *hopefully* revert back to the correct icon. Following that, resize back to the default value, and Apply again. Finally, reboot the computer.

This solution has almost always worked for me in the past.

Alternative Suggestion #2: TweakUI

If Suggestion #1 doesn't resolve your issue, you can try resetting your icons using Microsoft's PowerToys TweakUI.

For Windows NT, 9x, ME, and 2000:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/powertoys.htm

To start TweakUI, go to the Control Panel (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel).

For Windows XP:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/powertoys_xp.htm

To start TweakUI, use the TweakUI shortcut in your Start Menu (not the Control Panel), or run \windows\system32\tweakui.exe.