Vista Quick Launch icon locations change after restart
Background
After every restart, the icons in my Quick Launch toolbar in Windows Vista were rearranged into alphabetical order. The toolbar itself was resized, taking up most of the Taskbar. It didn’t matter how many times I carefully moved the icons around, nor did it matter if I logged off and back on, restarted, or shut down and powered back up—I couldn’t get the icons to stay the way I want them. I don’t remember when it started, so I can’t pinpoint what changed on my system that might have caused it.
After much searching, I found various solutions to a similar problem in Windows XP. Several solutions suggested installing third-party utilities that reset your Desktop back to the way you like after each restart. I’m generally not a big fan of adding on utilities to fix problems with the operating system; I prefer to fix the OS. I finally found one solution that worked for me with Vista that fixed a problem deep inside the Windows Registry.
Read on for the details on how I fixed this annoying quirk.
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Windows Shortcuts Disappear
It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s really annoying. Your Windows Desktop refreshes (often after a program crashes), and all the icons on your Desktop and in the Start Menu have been reset to generic icons that all look alike. Sometimes it’s a temporary thing, and restarting the computer will fix it. Other times it takes a different tool.There are a number of nifty tools available from Microsoft’s web site called “Power Toys”. These are a bunch of little applets that tweak or enhance the way Windows works. There are things like fancier calculators, image re-sizers, and ones that are a little difficult to explain (but do really neat things). These Power Toys are version-specific (i.e., you can’t use the Windows XP Power Toys under Windows 98 for example). The WinXP version is available here.
Out of all the Power Toys that are available, TweakUI is probably the most useful tool of all. This TweakUI gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. It comes in two versions, one for standard 32-bit processor machines (e.g., Celerons, Pentiums, etc.) and also for 64-bit Itanium processor machines. It runs under Windows XP Service Pack 1 or later, as well as Windows Server 2003.
To restore your Desktop and Start Menu icons, download the appropriate version of TweakUI, install it, and then run it. In the left-hand column at the bottom is an option to “Repair”. Click it, and you will see that “Rebuild Icons” is the selected option in the pull-down menu. Click the “Repair Now” button, and all your icons should magically reappear. It will also reset the order of your icons (which could be slightly annoying if you have carefully lined up your icons up in a particular pattern).
This handy tool can also fix problems related to a messed up Fonts folder, your Unread Mail Count, and many other things. Feel free to poke around and see what else you can tweak. Just remember that all Power Toys are unsupported by Microsoft. I’ve never had a problem with them, but if you do, Microsoft cannot bail you out (and neither can we).
So tweak at your own risk. 
Make Disk Cleanup Faster
Running Windows Disk Cleanup on a regular basis is really a great idea to keep your computer running lean and efficient. The only problem is, if you are like me, I’d almost rather visit my dentist than wait for the utility to complete its scan. It turns out that about 90% of the wait is the result of just one type of scan, and that scan is essentially pointless. Here are the steps for disabling this annoying “feature” and making your Disk Cleanups as fast and efficient as they should be!
The instructions are slightly modified from a Microsoft Knowledgebase article. The article discusses what to do if Disk Cleanup stops responding completely. It turns out the “fix” works perfectly well as a preventive measure. (more…)
Alphabet Soup – Chat Acronymns
FWIW there are a lot of acronyms out there, especially on AIM, YIM, MSN, and IRC. I am FAQ about what these things mean. It would be nice to tell people to RTM, but AFAIK there aren’t very many comprehensive lists available (BICBW). So, here is a list of many common acronyms I’ve seen used from time to time. HTH. IAE, if I left some favorite ones out, BMG to add them in the comments. Just keep them kid-friendly. Thx!
A/S/L … Age/Sex/Location
AFAIK … As far as I know
AFK … Away from keyboard (especially mobile users not at a computer)
AIM … AOL Instant Messenger; also verb for transferring files via AIM
ASAP … As soon as possible
ATM … At the moment
B … Back
BAK … Back at keyboard (typically used after AFK or BRB)
BBL … Be back later
BBS … Be back soon
BC … Because
BCNU … Be Seein’ You
BFF … Best Friends Forever
BFN … Bye for now
BG … Big grin
BIAB … Back in a bit
BICBW … But I could be wrong
BMG … Be my guest
BRB … Be right back
BTA … But then again
BTW … By the way
Outlook Express/Outlook Won’t Save Passwords
Symptoms: Every time you open Outlook Express or Outlook you are asked to re-enter your password even though the Save Password box is checked (or grayed out).
Problem: Generally this is caused by a problem in the Registry with the Protected Storage System Provider key.
Resolution: Follow the steps below to fix this problem or visit Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article 29684 for an even more detailed information.
Exchange: OWA displays all mailboxes in a directory browsing format
Problem: After some unrelated changes are made to IIS 6.0, Exchange’s Outlook Web Access (OWA) acts differently. The normal login page is replaced by a login dialog box. After logging in, OWA displays all the mailboxes in a browseable directory format instead of the normal OWA content. You can select your mailbox and all folders display in the same manner. Charles Yang from Microsoft presented a solution that (mostly) worked for me in this situation.
Make Disk Cleanup Faster
Running Windows Disk Cleanup on a regular basis is really a great idea to keep your computer running lean and efficient. The only problem is, if you are like me, I’d almost rather visit my dentist than wait for the utility to complete its scan. It turns out that about 90% of the wait is the result of just one type of scan, and that scan is essentially pointless. Here are the steps for disabling this annoying “feature” and making your Disk Cleanups as fast and efficient as they should be!
Alphabet Soup – Chat Acronyms
FWIW there are a lot of acronyms out there, especially on AIM, YIM, MSN, and IRC. I am FAQ about what these things mean. It would be nice to tell people to RTM, but AFAIK there aren’t very many comprehensive lists available (BICBW). So, here is a list of many common acronyms I’ve seen used from time to time. HTH. IAE, if I left some favorite ones out, BMG to add them in the comments. Just keep them kid-friendly. Thx!
Outlook Express/Outlook Won’t Save Passwords
Symptoms: Every time you open Outlook Express or Outlook you are asked to re-enter your password even though the Save Password box is checked (or grayed out).
Problem: Generally this is caused by a problem in the Registry with the Protected Storage System Provider key.
Resolution: Follow the steps below to fix this problem or visit Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article 29684 for an even more detailed information.
Heat and Hurricanes
It’s summer, and the thermometer has been stuck above 100°F (37.8°C) for 6 days, almost tying a record. There’s a certain laziness in the air. It’s just too hot to move around much! I really feel sorry for people who do roofing, lay asphalt, or work in the fields with the sun beating down on them on days like these.
People aren’t the only ones to suffer in the heat though. These past few days have been busy here, too. It seems that extended heat like this will give any equipment, especially air conditioners and other cooling systems, a real workout. Marginal components become overwhelmed and stop working. This can cause disruptions in Internet service (like it did for Comcast this morning), servers (like one of ours because air conditioning went out on Sunday), and in other electronics. Despite the lazy summer days, computer failures have been keeping us busy these past few days.
What are you doing to “summer-ize” your computer network?
Maintaining Your PC – Part 1
One of our clients sent me the following e-mail request:
Can you shoot me an email … with detailed instructions (how to’s) about … weekly & monthly cleanups … (Adware, Spyware, &/or other?). I keep getting official looking advertising pop-ups [regarding] such and am a little nervous to either do something or do nothing with them. I’d appreciate it if you could help me with this.
Realizing that my response could lead to a few blog entries, I decided to kick off a series of articles tentatively called “How-To Tuesdays.”
So, here is the first article in the series: the steps that I would recommend for the average small office/home office (or “SOHO”) users to keep their computers running smoothly…
look good