Screwed Up Desktop (XP Home 5.1/2600)

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Can you upload a JPG version of this that is a bit larger?

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Mark ~

I sent one to WyllyWylly@WOPR.com.
~Bruce
Dayton, Ohio

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I installed Ontrack SystemSuite 4.x and now my darn desktop is screwed up. I have this pane running up the left side of the screen, my recycle bin is gone, and I can no longer drag files into folders on the desktop. I uninstalled the software and ran system restore, but it was unsuccessful. I have a screenshot of the desktop if anyone is curious to see it.

Anyone?? Bueller…??

~Bruce Krymow
bruce@krymow.com

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it looks like an explorer window, not your desktop.

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MJ ~

Yes, it does look like an explorer window, but look closer, it IS my desktop.

I cannot drag and drop files on the desktop and cannot move icons by dragging. This is the weirdest thing I have seen.

Any ideas??

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Bruce, are you using anything like “customize this folder” or anything else?

I would suggest trying to “reset all folders” under the Tools -> Folder Options menu as a first thing…..see if that helps. Can you boot into safe mode and the problem goes away?

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Mark ~

No I do not customize folders, but I tried that just for kicks – nada – I did boot to safe mode and I am not sure what you intend to discover by that problem going away, as everything goes away when I do that. I did not have the pane on the left hand side and was able to move icons and perform drag and drop functions. The funny thing I noticed was that safe mode only appears in a small defined area of my monitor as does the splash and startup screen problems in my previous post topic.

Any suggestions?

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now we have a better sized screen shot, it’s definately an explorer window. Why, i’m not sure. I’ve often had a gray one when i open network folders, but never with the sidebars.

If you compare the desktop with a normal looking windows explorer window that is opened to the desktop namespace, it looks the same. This means that what ever you did, you are actually displaying the desktop namespace as an explorer window, not as the real desktop.

Go into control panel and choose display properties – what are you using for the desktop tab? Have you tried changing settings there? What about messing with settings under the customize desktop boutton? Check the web tab – is it set to use the desktop namespace folder as your desktop?

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MJ ~

I am well aware that my desktop looks like an explorer window. This desktop does not allow me to perform any drag & drop nor does it allow moving the icons.

There is nothing in the display properties or desktop customizing features that affect this. That is all old hat. I am pretty familiar with Windows OS’s but this is a quirky corker. I did nothing other than install the latest version of Ontrack’s SystemSuite which is touted by WPOR & PC World as the best utility available. I ran the defrag & disk fixer and then restarted and, well, this is what I got. I uninstalled — nada–system restore from several points of time – -nada. I am not yet convinced that the software had anything to do with it, but as a matter of chain-of-events, I followed protocol for reparation.

So far, no one experienced enough in XP has read this and had a remedy or this is a very unique situation to XP or any MS OS for that matter. You cannot create an explorer “desktop” with out some knowledgeable hacking.

I don’t know…..I am thinking of dumping XP Home, reformatting and installing Pro in NTFS unless someone can offer a reasonable fix. I hate resorting to the “reinstall” option alleged “support” personnel are always so quick to provide.

<———this is how I kinda feel right now!

Best regard,

Bruce G.F. Krymow
brucekrymow@juno.com

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Open Windows Explorer (or press Windows key and E simultaneously), navigate to c:Documents and SettingsDesktop on the left pane, right-click Desktop folder, click Customize tab, then Restore Default button, then Apply, OK.
Does it help? Do you see any suspicious shortcuts on the right pane?

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Best advice so far, but already tried that and even went and checked all the other desktop folders and reset them. Nothing changed, and no, there are no shortcuts at all in any of them. I do not use them.

Chin scratcher, eh?

…come back…?

~Bruce Krymow

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* * * F Y I * * *

As it turns out, the OS was corrupted. Fujitsu confirmed this and after some lengthy discussion up the hierarchy, they subsequently agreed to NextDayAir me a full retail version of WinXPH free of charge. I will probably install that on a rarely used Win98SE desktop tomorrow.

The last few days, this laptop seemed to be deteriorating exponentially. Along with endless error messages of being unable to locate critical files, the cursor began moving on its own, windows would flash like a strobe, the taskbar would completely disappear, CD and floppy would fail to read and/or write, files would randomly empty themselves (or fail to show contents) in addition to the previous problems with the desktop and inability to move icons or drag & drop.

I am glad my lazy butt backed up everything just in time! I would have liked to figure out what was going on for the sake of understanding & knowledge, but I just went ahead and reformatted to NTFS with a clean new XP Pro install and everything is purring like a Porsche!!

Thanks, everyone, for the attempts to help!

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