If your icons appear garbled or use the wrong images,
your icon cache file may be corrupt. This file stores Taskbar, Desktop, Start menu, and program icons so Windows can display them quickly. The icon cache sometimes becomes corrupt after a system crash or installation failure. However,
if you delete the icon cache, Windows automatically rebuilds a clean one. In Windows 98 and Windows Me, delete the hidden file ShellIconCache found at: C:\WINDOWS\ShellIconCache.
In Windows XP, delete the file IconCache.db found at: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\USERNAME\LOCAL SETTINGS\APPLICATION DATA\IconCache.db (where
USERNAME is your account name).
If you don't see these files, you may need to change the system setting so you can view hidden files. Right-click the Start button and choose Explore; when Windows Explorer opens, click Folder Options from the View menu (or Tools menu in WinXP). Next, choose the View tab from the dialog box that displays on-screen. Here, you can select the Show All Files option, click Apply, and click OK.
After deleting the ShellIconCache or IconCache.db icon cache files, close all windows and choose
Shut Down from the Start menu. The next time you start your computer, your icons should be fixed.
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