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Author Topic: Desktop icons won't show  (Read 10646 times)

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Offline Thor

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #25 on: August 24, 2008, 06:49:08 PM »
Instead of renewing Norton, go get AVG Free at http://free.grisoft.com. In my experience, Norton has always seemed to hog more memory than it should and has never been truly effective at getting everything. There are also free online scans at http://www.trendmicro.com  and  http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan that you can do in the interim.

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"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."- IBID

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Offline Chris_

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #26 on: August 24, 2008, 07:59:20 PM »
Quote from: Thor on August 24, 2008, 06:49:08 PM
Instead of renewing Norton, go get AVG Free at http://free.grisoft.com. In my experience, Norton has always seemed to hog more memory than it should and has never been truly effective at getting everything. There are also free online scans at http://www.trendmicro.com  and  http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan that you can do in the interim.



All of those are good ideas.  I used AVG for quite some time and it works pretty damn well.

And until I am coninced otherwise...

« Last Edit: August 24, 2008, 08:00:55 PM by freedumb2003 »
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Offline rich_t

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #27 on: August 24, 2008, 08:00:53 PM »
Quote from: freedumb2003 on August 24, 2008, 02:10:00 PM
Quote from: jinxmchue on August 24, 2008, 12:26:09 PM
Okay, I don't think we got any disks from Gateway when we got the computer.  However, the computer has a partitioned drive.  Could what I need be on the other part of the drive?
You didn't get repair disks?  If not, then look for instructions on how to boot from the recovery drive partition.

Many vendors no longer provide repair disks.  My latest HP didn't come with any.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2008, 08:04:00 PM by rich_t »
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"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." --Norman Thomas, 1944

Offline LC EFA

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #28 on: August 24, 2008, 08:23:07 PM »
Quote from: rich_t on August 24, 2008, 08:00:53 PM
Quote from: freedumb2003 on August 24, 2008, 02:10:00 PM
Quote from: jinxmchue on August 24, 2008, 12:26:09 PM
Okay, I don't think we got any disks from Gateway when we got the computer.  However, the computer has a partitioned drive.  Could what I need be on the other part of the drive?
You didn't get repair disks?  If not, then look for instructions on how to boot from the recovery drive partition.

Many vendors no longer provide repair disks.  My latest HP didn't come with any.

Most HP/Compaq desktops (at least Asia-Pacific issue ones) do not come with the recovery CD set. You have the option to create them once you have run through the minisetup when it comes out of the box. You can only do this once, and if it ****s up, HP are unsympathetic. Normally you start their recovery with a shortcut key when the BIOS splash is displayed.

You can also kick it off by deleting the user partition and setting the recovery partition to be active using fdisk or other utility.

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Offline Chris

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #29 on: August 24, 2008, 08:30:04 PM »
Yup.  Most newer HP/Compaqs come with a recovery partition on one of the drives.  After the POST test ends, press F11 to load the recovery manager.

You may be able to order recovery discs from the manufacturer.  Someone else here had a similar problem with a laptop, and was able to order discs.
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Offline rich_t

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #30 on: August 24, 2008, 08:31:38 PM »
Quote from: LC EFA on August 24, 2008, 08:23:07 PM
Quote from: rich_t on August 24, 2008, 08:00:53 PM
Quote from: freedumb2003 on August 24, 2008, 02:10:00 PM
Quote from: jinxmchue on August 24, 2008, 12:26:09 PM
Okay, I don't think we got any disks from Gateway when we got the computer.  However, the computer has a partitioned drive.  Could what I need be on the other part of the drive?
You didn't get repair disks?  If not, then look for instructions on how to boot from the recovery drive partition.

Many vendors no longer provide repair disks.  My latest HP didn't come with any.

Most HP/Compaq desktops (at least Asia-Pacific issue ones) do not come with the recovery CD set. You have the option to create them once you have run through the minisetup when it comes out of the box. You can only do this once, and if it ****s up, HP are unsympathetic. Normally you start their recovery with a shortcut key when the BIOS splash is displayed.

You can also kick it off by deleting the user partition and setting the recovery partition to be active using fdisk or other utility.



Not a problem for me.  I just go buy a new one when the old one F's up.   :-)
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"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." --Norman Thomas, 1944

Offline Thor

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #31 on: August 24, 2008, 10:40:28 PM »
rich, please send all your F'ed up computers to me !!   :-)
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"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."- IBID

I AM your General Ne'er Do Well, Troublemaker & All Around Meanie!!

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."-Thomas Jefferson

Offline rich_t

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #32 on: August 24, 2008, 10:46:02 PM »
Quote from: Thor on August 24, 2008, 10:40:28 PM
rich, please send all your F'ed up computers to me !!   :-)

No way.  I use them for target practice.

LOL
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"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." --Norman Thomas, 1944

Offline Chris

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #33 on: August 24, 2008, 10:47:32 PM »
:rofl:

I delivered two boxes of old junk to a computer recycler in downtown Nashville.  They have old VAX machines with chips the size of your hand.
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Offline jinxmchue

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Re: Desktop icons won't show
« Reply #34 on: August 31, 2008, 01:11:31 PM »
Found a go-around for this problem: standby/hibernate.  Do those instead of a complete shutdown and the desktop pops right up.  Now we only have to deal with the slow startup when we have to do a full shutdown or restart.
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