Desktop Icons Duplicating

About four days ago, many of my desktop icons spontaneously duplicated themselves, creating a number of "name (1)" icons. I deleted these through the Desktop Cleanup Wizard. One day ago the icons duplicated again, but now without the (1), making them more difficult to locate the duplicates and delete; also, the icons do not order themselves alphabetically when the Name header is clicked in the Desktop folder. My virus scanner (Norton 2004, all updates have been downloaded) reports that my system is clean. I haven't downloaded any programs recently, and the most commonly used programs in the last week are Windows Media Player, IE 6, eMedia Guitar and Grand Theft Auto III. If anyone has any idea how to stop the duplication, or any idea as to the cause, please tell me all you can. Thank you.

 

Odd - it shouldn't be possible to have two files (and XP sees a desktop shortcut /w icon as a file) in the same folder with identical names.

I can't immediately think of a 'cause' for this particular issue. Sounds like it for sure needs to get fixed though. Try the 4 general cleanup items listed below and at worst your system will run a little smoother. At best the problem will be cured.

- Download, immediately update, and then run ad-aware followed by spybot. Links are in my signature. With ad-aware, check all the items it finds and get rid of them. Then with spybot, just start with the ones in red and pre-checked for you. The other things spybot finds are optional.

- start~run~cmd]/b] followed by chkdsk x: /r where 'x' means do this to all your partitions/drives. The system drive will say it can't do the deed just now so say Y(es) to doing it at next reboot then reboot.

- start~run~sfc /scannow (and you will probably need your XP install CD if any bad files are found and need to be replaced).

 

The nfo below is only offered for consideration after doing Newt's suggested "repair" procedures. If the problem persists the info below may help.

You could try this, making sure to export the key before you edited so you can easily reverse it should it prove not to help:

Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:

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

Change CommonDesktop from:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop

To:

CommonDesktop
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop

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This came from Kelly via a public board:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q="...099e01c3d67e$0a41e5a0$a101280a@phx.gbl&rnum=2

Click, within the link above^, the upper righthand corner sublink labeled "view complete threads 2 ".

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These are also similar to the above but with a twist:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...&newwindow=1&q=%22desktop+icons%22+duplicated

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...&newwindow=1&q=%22desktop+icons%22+duplicated

 

Ann - that does sound sorta close to this problem and his stuff is always reliable.

Jade didn't mention getting dups when she created a new shortcut but that dups seemed to show up later. Still, could easily be the same issue.

My 'fix' suggestions were very general although they can't hurt but I think yours is more likely to give a cure.

 

Where are you Jade?
Haven't heard from you in a few days.
How is this coming? Any progress report?

Updates are most important, whether good or bad. That way board members will know if further suggestions need to offered.

Be kind! Spill the beans and share the fix. You may be saving a fellow human being from having to buy the wig, necessary to cover up a bald spot, (from all that hair-pulling).

 

Well, I guess Jade is lost.

BUT...while rummaging through the Archives, on a totally unrelated quest, I stumbled on this past post. I thought I'd add it to Jades since it offers another possible solution:

More on duped icons
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20445&highlight=install

Someone may need this info further down the line.

Sorry for dragging curious bodies in here, seeking the final outcome of Jades problem. I had exceeded my thread "edit time limit" so there was no way around tacking another thread onto this thing and sending it back the top.

 

Sorry about not replying sooner, I'm a full time student so things get hectic, plus I didn't have a chance to try out the fixes until Thursday night, and I wanted to wait a bit to make sure the icons didn't duplicate again. But enough apologizing.

I downloaded Ad-aware and Spybot, let them do their thing, then deleted the duplicated icons. So far, they haven't re-duplicated and I've had no other signs of anything going awry. Thanks for all your help with this unusual problem.

 

Hi Jade,
I'm glad to see you hadn't lost your way! The "gentle prodding nag" wasn't aimed at you personally. Far to many times we get a new member who find their way to this board by happenstance. They often tend to lose their way back for unknown reasons.

Thank you for remembering and taking the time to update your post though. I can understand how a busy schedule would cause a delay in a response. I'm sure we can all say "Been there done that "!

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"Problem fixed by Adaware/Spybot "! I'm beginning to think adaware and spybot are magic bullets. Is there no end to the nuisances these programs can fix? While I find it hard to figure out why the malware/adware "Critters" would cause "duplicate shortcuts" I will not question it. The list of symptoms running these "spy-ware guardian angels" clear up is far to long and time consuming.

I'm glad this problem seems to be behind you, however it was accomplished.

(Warning! Pessimist Blurb coming..!
I'll assume you checked this out by making new shortcuts on the desktop using the various ways shortcuts find their way there.)