Tray and Desktop icons moving

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I have been having an ongoing problem for several months that has got me stumped. My Tray icons and sometimes my Desktop icons get moved without my doing anything. Sometimes only 1 or 2 icons in the tray will be in a different position, and other times they are completely rearranged. Same thing with the desktop icons. Sometimes only 2 or 3, but other times they are ALL mixed up. What could be causing this, and  how do I fix it?? I like my icons to be in certain places, NOT where they end up. This happens at random with no rhyme or reason.

I’m running Win7 Home Premium Sp1 x64 on a HP G62 laptop.

I am unable to attach screen shots as they are 3.15mb in size.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. By the way, suggestions to upgrade to Win10 or Win 11 will be ignored. I have tried them and DO NOT like them, and I can not afford to make the change. I am forcing myself to stay with Win 7 SP1 x64.

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During my Windows 7 days, I did the steps below when my desktop icons would be scrambled. The OlderGeeks site may have a good third party tools to do the same thing.

Get your icons all arranged then export the registry icon hive and save it as a .reg file:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop

When your icons get jumbled up, double click your saved .reg file, close explorer, finish the import the .reg file data then restart explorer.

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Pepsiboy

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Do you remote into the machine from another computer?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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Pepsiboy

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Susan,

I have done remote share in the past, but no in the last year or so.

Dave

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This behavior can be caused by a number of things, including software conflicts, virus or malware infections, and Windows settings. One possible solution is to check for and remove any malware or viruses on your computer. You can use a reputable antivirus program to perform a full scan.

Another solution is to check for software conflicts by disabling or uninstalling recently installed programs that may be causing the issue.

Additionally, you can try to reset your icon layout by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting “View” > “Auto arrange icons” and then “Align icons to grid.” If this doesn’t help, you may also try running the “sfc /scannow” command in the command prompt to check for and repair any system files that may be causing the issue.

It might also be that one of the third party software or services that you are using is causing the problem. Try disabling or uninstalling the software and see if the problem is fixed.

It’s also worth noting that Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft and it’s not recommended to use it as it will be vulnerable to security threats. Upgrading to a newer version of Windows would be a better option in terms of security.

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Pepsiboy

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I use a 3rd party piece of software called ReIcon v2.0. You create your desktop layout and save it with ReIcon and then you can restore it whenever you need it. You can also create many layouts depending on your usage. I found it here.

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Pepsiboy

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olhachycher wrote:

This behavior can be caused by a number of things, including software conflicts, virus or malware infections, and Windows settings. One possible solution is to check for and remove any malware or viruses on your computer. You can use a reputable antivirus program to perform a full scan.

Another solution is to check for software conflicts by disabling or uninstalling recently installed programs that may be causing the issue.

Additionally, you can try to reset your icon layout by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting “View” > “Auto arrange icons” and then “Align icons to grid.” If this doesn’t help, you may also try running the “sfc /scannow” command in the command prompt to check for and repair any system files that may be causing the issue.

It might also be that one of the third party software or services that you are using is causing the problem. Try disabling or uninstalling the software and see if the problem is fixed.

It’s also worth noting that Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft and it’s not recommended to use it as it will be vulnerable to security threats. Upgrading to a newer version of Windows would be a better option in terms of security.

I have been using Vipre Advanced Security for a few years. Full scan of HD is done daily. Last scan shows no problems.

Auto arrange complete messes thing up for me, as does align to grid. I like the way I have arranged them and changing that just messes with my beady little brain too much.

Not to worry about updating security as I am using 0Patch for that.

Also, no newly added software.

Dave

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Tony H wrote:

I use a 3rd party piece of software called ReIcon v2.0. You create your desktop layout and save it with ReIcon and then you can restore it whenever you need it. You can also create many layouts depending on your usage. I found it here.

Does this save the tray icons or just the desktop??

Dave

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It does both as far as I’m aware

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Pepsiboy

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TonyH,

Well, this morning everything on my desktop was messed up, AGAIN. I ran ReIcon, and the desktop was restored to the way I like it in about 10 seconds. However, the icons in the ‘Notification’ area of the taskbar did not get changed back. Not a problem, as it only took me about 5 minutes to manually fix it.

Just letting you know.

Dave

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Many thanks to all that gave suggestions to fix my problem. Even though they did not work for me, I tried !  I did download and install ReIcon. at least this gives me a rather quick fix to straighten things out. I’ll have to see how it goes.

Dave

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Pepsiboy wrote:

Well, this morning everything on my desktop was messed up

You can lock your desktop and see that Themes doesn’t change desktop icons

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I do not change the “Themes” for my desktop.

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Pepsiboy wrote:

I am unable to attach screen shots as they are 3.15mb in size.

Please excuse but I just have to ask – what kind of screen shot program or format are you using that takes 3.15 Megabytes?  You’re on a laptop, not using an 60 inch monitor.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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Charlie wrote:

Pepsiboy wrote:

I am unable to attach screen shots as they are 3.15mb in size.

Please excuse but I just have to ask – what kind of screen shot program or format are you using that takes 3.15 Megabytes?  You’re on a laptop, not using an 60 inch monitor.

I use a program called “MW Snap” (without the quotes) it was a freeware addition MANY years ago. It works fine for me, and does not change anything.

Dave

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Just did this snip, saved it as a jpg, and its properties says that it is 95 KB in size.  A full page would go higher but we’re still in the 100 and some KB size range.  Even if saved as a BMP, it would still be in the 100’s of KB’s.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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Pepsiboy

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Charlie wrote:

Just did this snip, saved it as a jpg, and its properties says that it is 95 KB in size.  A full page would go higher but we’re still in the 100 and some KB size range.  Even if saved as a BMP, it would still be in the 100’s of KB’s.

Charlie,

How do I ‘snip’ on a Win7 machine?

Thanks,

Dave

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Use the “Snipping Tool” under Windows Accessories in the Start Menu.

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Pepsiboy

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My Windows 7, Home Premium, SP1 comes with a program called “Snipping Tool”.  It’s found in Programs – Accessories in the start menu. I have a shortcut pinned in the start menu for ease of use.

My Linux Mint 19.1 Cinnamon has a very similar program called “Screenshot” that works the same way.  Each of these lets you choose how much you want to snip, from full page down to a small snip.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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Pepsiboy

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Pepsiboy wrote:

How do I ‘snip’ on a Win7 machine?

I suppose your keyboard has a ‘screen print’ key.
Past into Paint and resize.

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Pepsiboy

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PKCano wrote:

Use the “Snipping Tool” under Windows Accessories in the Start Menu.

I gave this a try this morning, and I like it a lot. I’ll have to try to remember this when I need to take a screen shot.

Many thanks for the tip.

Dave

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Got the desktop repair thing fixed with ReIcon. Still does not fix the rearranged Task Bar, but I think I can handle that.

Many thanks to all that made suggestions to fix this.

Dave

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