Double-click hanky-panky on desktop.

  • Thread starter Thread starter BudV
  • Start date Start date
B

BudV

Running Vista Home Premium SP2.

The subject says "on desktop" only because I haven't looked for signs of
this problem elsewhere yet. The problem seems to manifest itself in
different ways. I'll describe the most obvious way, and if there's no
response, I'll try to describe other symptoms as best I can; although the
more I experiment, the more it's starting to look as though I'm zeroing in
on something -- I know not what.

After a Restart, a single-click on one of my desktop icons will highlight
that icon, but it will also highlight the bottom-rightmost (BR) icon. This
was discovered because the typical double-click was causing execution of the
BR icon, and not the selected one. If I moved the BR icon up higher on the
desktop and tried again, the new BR icon would behave the same way. This
happens regardless of which icon I select. It seems that the problem goes
away as soon as I successfully call a program and I leave the desktop. The
problem returns after a restart.
 
I just noticed that after a restart and before any clicking, the BR icon
shows up highlighted.
 
BudV said:
I just noticed that after a restart and before any clicking, the BR icon
shows up highlighted.
Click to expand...

Might want to find out what the BR Icon is attached to. Malware or a
program that you installed? That would be the first step. If malware run
many different malware programs on your system even if one get rid of the
icon. Malwarebytes, Spybot Search and Destroy and others are available.

If a program you installed it is time to contact the tech support of the
program's manufacturer to find out what went wrong.
 
LVTravel said:
Might want to find out what the BR Icon is attached to. Malware or a
program that you installed? That would be the first step. If malware run
many different malware programs on your system even if one get rid of the
icon. Malwarebytes, Spybot Search and Destroy and others are available.

If a program you installed it is time to contact the tech support of the
program's manufacturer to find out what went wrong.
Click to expand...

By "attached to", if you mean its target, everything looks kosher, and the
system responds just as though I had double-clicked it, i.e., it executes
properly; if not, what do you mean?

The slim clue that I see is that something is happening during startup that
highlights that icon. Since it always affects the bottom-rightmost icon,
can we assume that the icons are processed (whatever that entails) in a
top-to-bottom, left-to-right order, therefore implying that it's simply the
last one loaded? Given that, where do we go from there?
 
By "attached to", if you mean its target, everything looks kosher, and the
system responds just as though I had double-clicked it, i.e., it executes
properly; if not, what do you mean?

The slim clue that I see is that something is happening during startup that
highlights that icon. Since it always affects the bottom-rightmost icon,
can we assume that the icons are processed (whatever that entails) in a
top-to-bottom, left-to-right order, therefore implying that it's simply the
last one loaded? Given that, where do we go from there?
Click to expand...

Do you listen to Car Talk? They often respond to certain classes of
problems with the plaint "Doesn't anybody screen these calls?".

Those classes constitute completely weird problems that just can't happen.
I bring this up because your problem seems to fit that criterion.

Other things to try:

1. If you add a new icon at the end, does the highlight switch to that one?

2. Maybe using msconfig or Autoruns (a free download at Microsoft.com) will
show you something at startup that looks suspicious...Or at least
"interesting".

3. Could it be the mouse driver? Try to update that, or to plug your mouse
in after booting is completed, or other strange things like that...

Really, this one is too weird.
 
BudV said:
By "attached to", if you mean its target, everything looks kosher, and the
system responds just as though I had double-clicked it, i.e., it executes
properly; if not, what do you mean?

The slim clue that I see is that something is happening during startup
that highlights that icon. Since it always affects the bottom-rightmost
icon, can we assume that the icons are processed (whatever that entails)
in a top-to-bottom, left-to-right order, therefore implying that it's
simply the last one loaded? Given that, where do we go from there?
Click to expand...

Yes, I meant the application that the Icon represents. Since we don't know
what BR means it may help us to help you if you explain the program that
this icon is pointing to. Did you install it or did it come with the
computer?
 
LVTravel said:
Yes, I meant the application that the Icon represents. Since we don't
know what BR means it may help us to help you if you explain the program
that this icon is pointing to. Did you install it or did it come with the
computer?
Click to expand...

You'll love this! Quote from above:Yeah, BR stands for "bottom-rightmost".
 
BudV said:
You'll love this! Quote from above:
Yeah, BR stands for "bottom-rightmost".
Click to expand...

Ok missed that abbreviation but what program is the BR Icon supposed to
start when double clicked? Did you install the program, was it already on
the computer when you purchased the computer. In other words where did the
BR icon come from. Have you checked for malware yet?
 
LVTravel said:
Ok missed that abbreviation but what program is the BR Icon supposed to
start when double clicked? Did you install the program, was it already on
the computer when you purchased the computer. In other words where did
the BR icon come from. Have you checked for malware yet?
Click to expand...


Sorry, but I still haven't made myself clear. This whole thread is involved
with the icon positioned at the lower-right of the desktop, WHATEVER PROGRAM
IS REPRESENTED THERE! If I drag that icon to somewhere else (above) on
the screen and do a restart, then the problem occurs with the icon that NOW
qualifies as the BR icon. Having said that, let me try to clear up the
issue a little by pointing out that it's not the *execution* of the program
that's represented by the BR icon, but the fact that the icon HAS ALREADY
BEEN HIGHLIGHTED when startup is complete, causing associated after-the-fact
problems.
 
Sorry, but I still haven't made myself clear. This whole thread is involved
with the icon positioned at the lower-right of the desktop, WHATEVER PROGRAM
IS REPRESENTED THERE! If I drag that icon to somewhere else (above) on
the screen and do a restart, then the problem occurs with the icon that NOW
qualifies as the BR icon. Having said that, let me try to clear up the
issue a little by pointing out that it's not the *execution* of the program
that's represented by the BR icon, but the fact that the icon HAS ALREADY
BEEN HIGHLIGHTED when startup is complete, causing associated after-the-fact
problems.
Click to expand...

Actually, you were clear...

Earlier, I asked a question: if you add a new icon to the desktop so that
it ends up at the BR position, does it get highlighted, or does the
previous contender get highlighted?

OTOH, I have no idea what either answer to that question might imply :-)

I also suggested looking into your startup axis for anything that might
seem "interesting"...
 
Actually, you were clear...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the support. I was beginning to have doubts. :-)
Earlier, I asked a question: if you add a new icon to the desktop so that
it ends up at the BR position, does it get highlighted, or does the
previous contender get highlighted?
Click to expand...
Can I get partial credit with this quote? "If I moved the BR icon up higher
on the desktop and tried again, the new
BR icon would behave the same way."

You asked me if I listened to Car Talk. My immediate answer would have been
"no", because I had never heard about it; but while searching the net for
it, I came across a site, and the following takes you directly to the
category I posted in:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/microsoft-support/windows-vista-windows-7-support

I don't know how to tell you to find my post, so I'll repeat it here. It's
a cleaned-up version of this thread, and I hope it will be easier for people
to understand:

Subject: Vista desktop shortcuts mess up on startup.
Running Vista Home Premium SP2 on a Toshiba A305 Satellite laptop.

My system has started leaving the bottom-rightmost (BR) icon highlighted
after a restart -- any restart, whether direct, or coming out of Power Off
or Hibernation. (Redundancy: To avoid some stubborn confusion encountered in
another forum, "BR" means "Bottom-Rightmost". It is not a program name. It
merely represents the position of an icon on the desktop.)

This was discovered because a choice (double-click) of a desktop icon was
causing execution of the BR icon, and not the chosen one. If I moved the BR
icon up higher on the desktop and restarted, the new BR icon would behave
the same way. This happens regardless of which icon I choose. There is no
further problem once the invoked program loads and settles down; e.g.,
Outlook doing all its send/receive and calendar reminders. The problem
returns after a restart.

For what it's worth, if the startup procedure processes the desktop icons in
a left-to-right, top-to-bottom sequence, then the BR icon would be the last
one to be processed.

The only help I can offer is that around the same time this started, I
installed The Ultimate Troubleshooter (TUT) from AnswersThatWork (which I
have used before and like) and began some cleanup involving
removing/disabling some items from the Startup procedure (what you would see
using msconfig). Unfortunately, I didn't keep a record of my activity, which
makes it a bit difficult to undo them. I have a letter in to AnswersThatWork
to see if they keep some kind of activity log.

I'm posting this to see if anyone has seen this peculiarity before, or even
if it rings a bell as to what I may have changed that might be associated
with it.
 
Bad news. I heard from AnswersThatWork, and TUT does keep a log of all my
activity. I undid all the things I did, powered off and on, and the problem
remained. Now what?
 
Thanks for the support. I was beginning to have doubts. :-)

Can I get partial credit with this quote? "If I moved the BR icon up higher
on the desktop and tried again, the new
BR icon would behave the same way."
Click to expand...

No partial credit, since it's not what I asked.

In the case you cite, there are no *new* icons on the desktop...which is
why I asked my question in the first place.

By new, I mean ones that didn't exist a few seconds ago.
 
I added a new icon near the top of the desktop, and the restart highlighted
the old BR icon. When I moved the new icon down so that it was now the BR
icon, it got the highlight after the restart. I'm sure that, whatever path
the system takes through the icons to put in the pictures and words and
other stuff, the last one processed is that BR icon, and for some reason,
the "desktop initializing routine" has stopped doing what I've always called
"ending housekeeping", which probably includes un-highlighting the last icon
and other wrap-up functions. Question is, who's the culprit?
 
I added a new icon near the top of the desktop, and the restart
highlighted the old BR icon. When I moved the new icon down so that it
was now the BR icon, it got the highlight after the restart. I'm sure
that, whatever path the system takes through the icons to put in the
pictures and words and other stuff, the last one processed is that BR
icon, and for some reason, the "desktop initializing routine" has
stopped doing what I've always called "ending housekeeping", which
probably includes un-highlighting the last icon and other wrap-up
functions. Question is, who's the culprit?
Click to expand...
Hard to say.

Have you tried booting in safe mode to see if the problem occurs there?
Have you tried a system restore to a date before you had this problem?
Have you tried creating a new user account, then deleting the offending one?

Sorry if I missed your mentioning safe mode, new user or system restore
in previous messages. I skimmed through this thread.

Bill
 
I added a new icon near the top of the desktop, and the restart highlighted
the old BR icon. When I moved the new icon down so that it was now the BR
icon, it got the highlight after the restart. I'm sure that, whatever path
the system takes through the icons to put in the pictures and words and
other stuff, the last one processed is that BR icon, and for some reason,
the "desktop initializing routine" has stopped doing what I've always called
"ending housekeeping", which probably includes un-highlighting the last icon
and other wrap-up functions. Question is, who's the culprit?
Click to expand...

Bill Gates?

How about making a new icon, moving it to BR, and *then* rebooting (which
is what I meant in the first place)...

OTOH, at this point, I don't think it would be worth your effort. I suspect
there'd be no difference.

It is certainly a pretty weird problem, and I still have no ideas :-(
 
I hope you guys are still around. I got sidetracked on a mail-handling
problem for the same PC.

When I boot in safe mode, the icons are all squeezed together as you know,
and the problem does not occur. I think this reinforces the thought (in the
paragraph below) that something is failing in whatever startup routine that
handles the layout and initialization of the desktop icons, and the BR icon
is the last one processed. (?)

I'm pretty sure I did a system restore when the problem first showed up. I
don't want to back up that far now, because of recent activity.

Because multiple user accounts (Mother and child) were giving us a pain
where a pill can't reach, with all its security warnings, we run with a
single administrator-user. Frankly, I'm hesitant to remove users, for fear
of losing Mom's data.
 
Gene, if you're still around, I've got mixed news.

The problem is associated with the theme (Right-click on desktop >
Personalize > Theme), and the fix deals, more or less, with changing the
theme. I won't go into details, but the link below will take you to the
thread where I got the critical help. It seems to be a strong help site,
and the guy-in-charge says somewhere that if you post a problem that doesn't
get replies for several days, he will give his personal attention to finding
a solution (or words to that effect). I'm suitably impressed.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/mic...-vista-desktop-shortcuts-mess-up-startup.html
 
Gene, if you're still around, I've got mixed news.

The problem is associated with the theme (Right-click on desktop >
Personalize > Theme), and the fix deals, more or less, with changing the
theme. I won't go into details, but the link below will take you to the
thread where I got the critical help. It seems to be a strong help site,
and the guy-in-charge says somewhere that if you post a problem that doesn't
get replies for several days, he will give his personal attention to finding
a solution (or words to that effect). I'm suitably impressed.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/mic...-vista-desktop-shortcuts-mess-up-startup.html
Click to expand...

I seem to be confused again :-)

While looking at that forum, a thought occurred to me: I have no idea
whether any of my desktop icons is highlighted when I restart. I just don't
pay attention, even after reading this thread. Bad boy...

BTW, I am also not sure about your and JenaE's distinction between restart
& reboot... I guess you mean one of them involves powering down.

Let me also add something about hyphens. The command in JenaE's post wasn't
"- powercfg". She (I am assuming the gender is feminine) was just using
":-" as a punctuation mark the way you & I might use a colon alone. Not
unique to JenaE, I might add, but not common in the USA.
 
The hyphens might be an Australian thing.

I tried to make the distinction between reboot and restart, and I'm not sure
I got through to her. You're right. In my opinion, reboot means powering
down, and restart doesn't. I'm convinced that this is a software thing, not
a hardware thing, and therefore restarting should be all that's required,
but since she was helping me, I wasn't going to fight with her about it.

In any event, she did point me in the right direction on this thing. I
don't think the two other fixes (icon cache and hibernation) have anything
to do with it. I experimented a lot with changing the themes, and at first
I thought I was having some success, but it was short-lived. My daughter
felt it wasn't that big a deal -- more of small nuisance -- so I gave up.
But dammit, you can't be a persnickety programmer for 50+ years and leave a
bug lying around. Now that you've been exposed to the new clues, do you
have any other insights that might help? I'm ready to call Microsoft and
pay for a fix. That could be messy, though, because they would use
Easy-Assist to take over my machine, which is fine with me, but since it
involves rebooting/restarting, we would be constantly breaking and
re-establishing the connection; thereby providing a pain where a pill can't
reach.

I'm glad you're still watching. I need the moral support,
 
Back
Top