Like the title says, my desktop icons will rearrange themselves automatically when I restart (and periodically whenever I'm looking through file folders) and I have to set the taskbar to show quick launch each time I reboot. This is annoying since I like to have my icons in my own order but they just don't stay how I want them. Any suggestions about what I could do?

scan computer for spyware and viruses .many good scans are free some links for you to go to and do a few scans .
Here's a list of what I know of:

CA Virus Scan: http://www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor...info/scan.aspx

CA Malware Scan: http://www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor/pestscan/

Trend Micro HouseCall http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Microsoft Live OneCare Safety Scanner http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

BitDefender Free Online Scanner http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

McAfee FreeScan http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp?affid=294

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool http://www.microsoft.com/security/ma...e/default.mspx

Symantec Security Check http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/d...d=ie&venid=sym

Panda ActiveScan http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/

Like the title says, my desktop icons will rearrange themselves automatically when I restart (and periodically whenever I'm looking through file folders) and I have to set the taskbar to show quick launch each time I reboot. This is annoying since I like to have my icons in my own order but they just don't stay how I want them. Any suggestions about what I could do?

I've had this happen a couple of time over the past few years. Sometimes going back to a restore point will help (not a great option). I can't believe how many post there are about this on the internet & how many different suggestions there are.

This recently happened to me on a DELL D830 (XPpro SP-current) after a registry clean with Regseeker. The align to grid feature would not stay off (just hitting F5 put "align to grid" back on & all the icons rearranged). In addition, the quicklaunch feature of the taskbar would not be visible after a logoff/reboot & had to be manually started each time.

Most folks have already made sure the "auto arrange" & "align to grid" features on the desktop are off. (they often don't stay off however)

THE REST OF THE FIX REQUIRES EDITING THE REGISTRY - (You need administrator privileges)
DO NOT ATTEMPT WITHOUT BACKING UP REGISTRY.
IF YOU'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE - GET HELP!

I tried the posts elsewhere about making sure the "NoSaveSettings" of the

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

key in registry was set to 0 & also made sure the same was done in the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer KEY ,none of which worked for me.

I also tried all of the Icon/desktop/toolbar restore fixes on kelly-scorner (www.kellys-korner-xp.com/) none of which worked.

Finally I found a few threads elsewhere (http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3091342.phpabout) which pointed to the problem of ownership/permissions being corrupted. Initially this was confusing because when I tried to edit the folder -
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \Bags\1

I was not allowed to open the key (& therefore could not even see the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \Bags\1\Desktop folder)

That was the problem for me. I had to set the ownership/permissions back to administrators (& my username) & allowed all subkeys to have the same ownership/permissions (right click the key /permissions /advanced).
I didn't have to add or modify any keys in the Desktop folder , just restoring the permissions fixed the "rearranging desktop icons" problem.

Now ... the Quicklaunch bar problem still has me beat... no workable solution found yet (even a system restore point prior to the registry clean didn't fix that one). I'll have to keep looking....

Hope this helps somone.

...Now ... the Quicklaunch bar problem still has me beat... no workable solution found yet (even a system restore point prior to the registry clean didn't fix that one). I'll have to keep looking....

Thank you for posting the corrupt permission keys for the desktop icons. The registry key with corrupted permissions which fixed my QuickLaunch issues is here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop

Good luck, and thanks again!

The only real and working solution I found in the internet for the 'disappearing ql bar problem' (winxp). Many thanks to 'jgmac' and 'idionline'.
A 'bloody' German.

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