Cannot See Icons or Right Click Desktop

Today, I came across a new virus/malware distasteful action on a Windows XP computer. Once the virus/malware was cleaned from the system, the user still had no access to their desktop. All of the icons were missing/hidden, and you could not right-click the desktop to recover them or to perform any other options either. Trying to reset the Desktop in Control Panel did not good, so we knew it must be a Registry issue.

First off, we found the virus located:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ Application Data\

Usually, this should only contain folders, not .exe (executable) files.

Thanks to this site (http://brianmorristech.com/?p=749), we have a solution before having to succumb to recreating the user profile (and all of the settings that go with that) or the formatting of the hard drive.

Here are the steps to recover your Desktop functionality:

·         Start

·         Run

·         Type:     regedit

o   Press Ok

This will open the Registry.

·         Locate:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

·         Double Click:

o   NoDesktop

§  Note Value = 1

·         Right-Click:

o   NoDesktop

·         Delete

Restart your computer, and your Desktop will be restored to its correct functionality.

NOTE:

·         You may be able to simply set the value to 0 (meaning off) instead of deleting, but I didn’t try.

·         If your value for NoDesktop is not set to 1 or is not present at all, then you may have a different issue.

All of My Files are Hidden or Missing

So, you’ve been infected with a virus/malware that has hidden all of your files. Once you rid your system of the virus/malware, please perform the following steps to restore hidden files.

·         Open My Computer (or Computer in Windows 7)

·         Double Click to Open C: (hard drive)

·         Edit (Alt E) Select All

·         Right-Click any of the blue area (selected folders/files)

·         Properties

·         Uncheck Hidden

·         Apply

·         Ok

You will get an error message. Choose Ignore to All, so it will complete without user input needed.

Once the process is finished, you should see all of your files again.

To view hidden files, click here.