Icon images problem

I received an email from a friend and have no idea where to start to help him. I hoping somebody here can shead some light on the problem. Here is the first email that I got:

All of my program icon files are tagged with the same generic icon, so that when viewing a LIST of icons in Windows Explorer or My Computer, the icon image is not apparant with the listed icon files. I must use an icon viewer if I want to see the actual icon picture. How can I make all of the icons' pictures look like the icons which icon files contain?

I asked what OS and if anything had been changed/added before the problems started up. Here is the next email:

Windows 98 SE; The problem began during or before the summer. I believe it occurred just after I installed a packer, couldn't understand the packer's instructions, then uninstalled it. Everything seemed to work fine (the packer no longer present), but the icons tagged onto ICO files no longer appeared as the icons of the icon files.

Since then, I have performed virus scans, registry scan and disc scan for errors with guidance from Gateway technical support in order to examine and fix errors and percent system resource problems. There was no problem with the Registry. Some errors on the hard disc were fixed. The only trouble on this computer seems to be the rendering of all program icon images tagged onto ICO files appearing as all the same generic program icon. I must use an icon viewer to see what the actual icon looks like.

Any suggestions that I can pass on? I would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!

Mike

 

Tell him to try deleting his shelliconcache file and then reboot the computer. Windows will rebuild it when windows first starts. It's spelled just the way I spelled it and it has no extension. He'll find it in the windows folder but it's a hidden file so he'll have to have windows set to show hidden files. If he doesn't want to mess with that tell him to download Tweak UI and then once installed, click on the repair tab (if I'm remembering correctly). There's a place there where you can choose to repair the icons. It does it by deleting the shelliconcache file also so either way he chooses to do it, he' doing the same thing. Either way, the computer needs to be rebooted for things to take effect.

 

Zander,

Thanks, I'll pass that on. I'll get back with the results when he tries it.