Resolved [Desktop Problem: Every background black, icons looking grayed-out]

Today I noticed my desktop icons were "dull" looking, except for the Computer icon, the Network icon, and now an icon for a program I just updated. The program installer uninstalled the old version , then installed the new one. The other icons look like they are grayed out, but they launch the proper program. I keep my Windows 7 updates current. I thought I might try to change the background, but every scene I try gives a black background. I can select a solid color. I prefer Windows default, but it also gives me a black color. If I switch to the Guest account, everything looks normal. All the icons and the background are normal on the Guest account.

 

Although I would like to know what caused this problem, I have decided to restore my system. I would still like to know what caused the problem so that I might avoid a recurrence. I image my OS/Program SSD weekly and I only had to go back five days. My libraries and other data are on a HDD and a few cloud servers.

 

Hard to tell from here without some pics. Was the "Windows Aero" feature turned off maybe?

 

Aero was working.

 

Hmmm, don't know then. Maybe a stray neutron, on it's way from the Sun to Pluto flew right through your computer and flipped a bit or two? <-shrug->