Missing Icons

I thought computers were only supposed to do what they were directed to do. It would appear mine has a mind of its own.

Today, I went to open Wise Care 365 (version 1.8) on my Hewlett-Packard s5770uk-m PC (running Windows 7 HP (x64) SP1) to find that it was no longer on the taskbar. So, I went to find the application (.exe) in the directory to create a shortcut on the taskbar. However, the PC also seems to have lost Wisecare’s icon. All it will put on the taskbar is the generic icon I attach as a jpeg image.

I don’t need assistance with putting Wisecare back on my taskbar but would like to know if and how I can get the correct icon back.

I’ve considered the possibility of malware doing this but (a) everything else seems to be working fine and (b) my malware protection software hasn’t detected anything.

 

My icon for Malwarebytes sometimes changes to a generic. It is not malware, just a corrupted icon cache. Why does it get corrupted? I haven't a clue. It doesn't happen often, thank goodness.

 

Same goes for my desktop icon for MalwareBytesAntiMalware, in fact it's generic right now. Irritating but completely unimportant. Only ever happens to MBAM though, nothing else, so must be an MBAM problem.

 

Create the shortcut to WiseCare on the desktop. Right-click the shortcut, click Properties, click Change Icon. By default the icons in WiseCare will show. If they don't, navigate to the WiseCare.exe file. Then select the icon, click OK, Apply, OK.

 

I thought 'sure, I'll just do that to fix my missing MBAM icon' - and it didn't work! Digging a bit further I discovered that some of my folder view options had somehow got changed, particularly hide extensions for known file types. After I'd unchecked that it worked.

 

Good to know the MBAM icon is restored.

Hopefully your experience and my advice will help the other members.

 

I'm really glad I started this thread. It appears to have helped a number of people besides me.

My problem is now fixed and I want to thank everyone for their help.

I tried Eldon's solution but it didn't work until Earthling added the information about the hidden file extensions.

I knew it wasn't a major problem it's just one of those annoying things that make you wonder why they happen.