Per TimW - moving my issue to here

Thanks again to TimW for all his help in insuring my PC was completely clean of any infections of any kind. At Tim's suggestion, I am now moving my last issue to this forum.

It was probably one of my infections that caused this issue.

First the MY COMPUTER icon disappeared from my desktop. All efforts to replace it have only given me a "shortcut" that does not provide any of the features the regular ICON gives.

The only way I can access my drives is by using Windows Explorer and it's position that is normally at the top of the tree on the left just under DESKTOP has now moved to the bottom. When I click and highlight MY COMPUTER the icon expands to reveal my drives in the tree, but nothings shows up in the large window to the right.

Another aspect of this issue is that when right click on my desktop and select properties, then the desktop tab, and then Customize Desktop, the options for "Desktop Icons" shows the My Computer icon, but it is grayed out and I cannot put a checkmark in that box.

Obviously something that infected my PC has made some changes to my registry that is causing this issue.

TimW had me run a "sfc /scannow" twice and no errors came back or any issues.

Any suggestions or help would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
JP

 

If you click Start does "My Computer" show in the list on the right? If so right click and select "Show on Desktop".

 

You might have to do whats called a non-destructive reinstall of XP. All your data and programs will remain intact but since the system files are replaced from your cd, you will loose all SP's and critical updates that are not on your cd (if your XP cd has SP2 you will be upto that point and need to install sp3 and visit the update site for other stuff). Here is a link to the Langa Letters a guy who used to work for MS and now tells people how to get around MS's silly GUI.

Code:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ATER1BJCZNSN0QSNDLQSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=189400897&_requestid=319026

This will walk you thru the reinstall and save your data.

Here's the main page where you can look for other useful tips:

Code:

http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml?authorID=1111&headParams=fredlanga&subSection=Fred+Langa&section=windows

 

Sach2: No, My Computer does not show when in the list on the right, when I hit start.

Appzalien: Unfortunately I purchased this computer used and no restore disc or XP disc came with it.

FORTUNATELY my PC still operates fine in most every way, except for this flaw. It has only been an issue with maybe a program or two, when I needed to browse to one of my drives and they did not show in a programs browse function/tree.

It maybe that I'll just have to live with it, unless anyone knows the specifics in the registry that can be modified to bring My Computer back to all the places where it should be, such as in the list on the right when I hit Start.

Thanks anyway... anyone else?
JP

 

Try the steps below, you might have to do a restart when finished in order for it to take effect.

Steve

 

Matacumbie's instructions are very specific and probably what you need.

******
My only thought would be if they don't work try Right-click Start button>Properties>Tick Start Menu and choose Customize>On Advanced Scroll to My Computer and tick Showas Link. If it then appears on Start Menu try right clicking and select Show on Desktop.

 

:major Just a thought but have you thought about buying a XP disk

 

Matacumbie was on the right track. I did some research on registry keys and found that the one mentioned above and specifically:

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
NonEnum]
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
NonEnum]
Name: {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value: (0 = show, 1 = remove)

My registry had a 1 in this value, which was failing to show the "My Computer" icon on the desktop. This registry entry is for that purpose, to either hide or show the "My Computer" icon on the desktop.

Thanks... GOT IT!