ShellIconCache File Missing

I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

"News Reader" wrote in message
om...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry

(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer
)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there
something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

The shelliconcache is a hidden file. Perhaps something changed so that
hidden files aren't shown now.
Explorer,View,Folder Options,View and you will find the 'show hidden
files' choice there.

As noted, ShellIconCache is a Hidden system file. Make sure you have "Show All
Files" enabled.

Also, when ShellIconCache is deleted, it is not created at the next startup, but
rather at the next shutdown--you won't see it until you've restarted twice after
deleting it.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"News Reader" wrote in message
om...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

(News Reader) wrote in message . com...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

It will re-appear as soon as you use the Start Menu|Shutdown box.
Shutting down via desktop shortcuts bypasses the adding to and/or
construction of the ShellIconCache file. You don't have to
actually shut down, just making the Shut Down Windows box appear
is often all that's needed. And then sometimes you actually do
need to at least restart via the Start Menu in order to get it
going again.

(Lee) wrote in message . com...
(News Reader) wrote in message . com...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

It will re-appear as soon as you use the Start Menu|Shutdown box.
Shutting down via desktop shortcuts bypasses the adding to and/or
construction of the ShellIconCache file. You don't have to
actually shut down, just making the Shut Down Windows box appear
is often all that's needed. And then sometimes you actually do
need to at least restart via the Start Menu in order to get it
going again.

Thank you for the comments. I always have 'Show All Files' selected.
I also shut down using a desktop icon, so Lee's note solved it. Who
would have thought using a desktop icon would cause a different
procedure than using the Start Menu box. Problem solved.

Any idea on how the file got deleted? Perhaps one of the following:
* Ad-Aware
* CW Shredder
* Spy Sweeper
* Spybot
* Spyware Blaster
* CCleaner

I'm pretty sure Ad-Aware and Spybot didn't delete it, not sure on the
others.

No idea how it got "deleted", but maybe it would help if you understood that
ShellIconCache is a memory cache. During startup, if the file copy exists, it
gets loaded into memory. During use, the cache is updated as icons get added or
changed, and during shutdown it gets written to file. If the file copy doesn't
exist at startup, it has to get rebuilt.

I'm curious about your "shortcut" for shutting down. What's the commend line for
that shortcut? If that command is not doing a procedure that includes writing
ShellIconCache to file, then I have to wonder what other housekeeping chores are
being skipped.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"News Reader" wrote in message
om...
(Lee) wrote in message
. com...
(News Reader) wrote in message
. com...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

It will re-appear as soon as you use the Start Menu|Shutdown box.
Shutting down via desktop shortcuts bypasses the adding to and/or
construction of the ShellIconCache file. You don't have to
actually shut down, just making the Shut Down Windows box appear
is often all that's needed. And then sometimes you actually do
need to at least restart via the Start Menu in order to get it
going again.

Thank you for the comments. I always have 'Show All Files' selected.
I also shut down using a desktop icon, so Lee's note solved it. Who
would have thought using a desktop icon would cause a different
procedure than using the Start Menu box. Problem solved.

Any idea on how the file got deleted? Perhaps one of the following:
* Ad-Aware
* CW Shredder
* Spy Sweeper
* Spybot
* Spyware Blaster
* CCleaner

I'm pretty sure Ad-Aware and Spybot didn't delete it, not sure on the
others.

News Reader wrote in message om...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

Read this

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...10.phx.gbl#lin
k8

(News Reader) wrote in message . com...
(Lee) wrote in message . com...
(News Reader) wrote in message . com...
I don't know how, but something deleted my shelliconcache file from
the Windows folder (I'm guessing some spyware removal tool). I have
the Max Cached Icons set to 4096 in the registry
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\explorer)
and have rebooted a couple of times. Each time it takes a while for
the desktop icons to refresh.

Will the shelliconcache file eventually appear, or is there something
else I should be doing?

Thanks very much for any help.

It will re-appear as soon as you use the Start Menu|Shutdown box.
Shutting down via desktop shortcuts bypasses the adding to and/or
construction of the ShellIconCache file. You don't have to
actually shut down, just making the Shut Down Windows box appear
is often all that's needed. And then sometimes you actually do
need to at least restart via the Start Menu in order to get it
going again.

Thank you for the comments. I always have 'Show All Files' selected.
I also shut down using a desktop icon, so Lee's note solved it. Who
would have thought using a desktop icon would cause a different
procedure than using the Start Menu box. Problem solved.

Any idea on how the file got deleted? Perhaps one of the following:
* Ad-Aware
* CW Shredder
* Spy Sweeper
* Spybot
* Spyware Blaster
* CCleaner

I'm pretty sure Ad-Aware and Spybot didn't delete it, not sure on the
others.

All manner of daily doings can put the clobber on the ShellIconCache
file. A repair of ie will do it, changing the font size or icon
size as well in some cases, so it's a pretty common thing to do.
Installation of software will do it too, I assume to get the new,
whizbang icon for the gizmo into the mix as fast as possible?

Gary, the command line for the standard desktop shutdown shortcut
is:
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,SHExitWindowsEx 2

as per
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=234216

C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows
is used here to just shutdown, I don't remember where I got it
from but it obviously is not covered by the above article.
It doesn't seem to matter what shortcut is used concering
ShellIconCache issue, the file simply is NOT rebuilt until the
standard Shut Down Windows box shows up.

I used to live for up to a week without a ShellIconCache file
until I found out why. When I did, I posted a 'how come
nobody told me about this' and got back EVERYBODY knows about
this. I don't think so. I too wonder what else isn't getting
done right but continue to use either shutdown method with no
other obvious clues or problems. Just one of those odd 98
tidbits I guess.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message ...
No idea how it got "deleted", but maybe it would help if you understood that
ShellIconCache is a memory cache. During startup, if the file copy exists, it
gets loaded into memory. During use, the cache is updated as icons get added or
changed, and during shutdown it gets written to file. If the file copy doesn't
exist at startup, it has to get rebuilt.

I'm curious about your "shortcut" for shutting down. What's the commend line for
that shortcut? If that command is not doing a procedure that includes writing
ShellIconCache to file, then I have to wonder what other housekeeping chores are
being skipped.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

The command line for my shutdown icon is:
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows

Can this be modified to duplicate the Start button shutdown? After
shutting down using the Start button, the file has returned and the
startup is working fine.

See Lee's post, and go ahead and wade through the thread linked to by Hugh. It
would appear that the StartShutdown sequence is indeed the only method that
creates/recreates ShellIconCache.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"News Reader" wrote in message
om...
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
No idea how it got "deleted", but maybe it would help if you understood that
ShellIconCache is a memory cache. During startup, if the file copy exists,
it
gets loaded into memory. During use, the cache is updated as icons get added
or
changed, and during shutdown it gets written to file. If the file copy
doesn't
exist at startup, it has to get rebuilt.

I'm curious about your "shortcut" for shutting down. What's the commend line
for
that shortcut? If that command is not doing a procedure that includes
writing
ShellIconCache to file, then I have to wonder what other housekeeping chores
are
being skipped.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

The command line for my shutdown icon is:
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindows

Can this be modified to duplicate the Start button shutdown? After
shutting down using the Start button, the file has returned and the
startup is working fine.