Winnt sp4 user, all my desktop shortcuts have the same icon?

I need help? I looked through as many of your topics as I could using your search, but nothing came up, so here I am. I know my way around the computer, but not the registry. I have used Registry Mechanic, did not change anything. All the icons on my desktop and in the start menu are all the same, (notepad). All the targets are correct, as are the target type under the shortcut tab. Under the general tab they are all LNK Files. A few are right that are system, outlook, IE, recycle bin and so on. Everything else as a shortcut has the same icon. I can right click on any one and reset it to the right icon and click ok, just stays the same. The programs do not open, well notepad tries. I have to go to C:\programs and launch any one from there. No one I have talked to has heard of this. Tried looking through Microsoft forum/database to find something related to this. The closest I came up with is this Article ID : 172053 and that’s dated 2001. I have not tried it as of yet. The reason being is it may not be right, under any other user, the desk top is fine. Tried deleting the icon cache and logging back on, no change. There are a few mentions out there , but they all involve XP. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi. Yes it changes the icon in the properties window, target location all are as they should be. Click apply and go to the general tab, still shows notepad icon and type of file as LNK File.? Running Panda now.

 

Ran Panda and it pick up the same as all the others I ran, 3 cookies. Nothing major. I did see a mention of something somewhere during my search about ad aware locking all your icons or LNK files, but I can't find any setting that deals with that. I'm not using the bought version so I’m not using active scan with it, so I don't think it applies. Still need help.

 

Here's a suggestion, though I really don't know if this will work for you:

Search for a "ShellIconCache" file on your system; if you find it, rename it to "ShellIconCacheOLD", then reboot. During reboot, Windows should recreate the shortcut icons on the Desktop based on the actual targets, which you say are correct.

Let us know what happens; I've never heard of this type of problem, and I haven't worked with WinNT4 since Win2k was released.