Hundreds of Icons being created on Desktop

I have an old PC running W98SE with just a few
applications loaded. These apps each have an icon on the
desktop. A few days ago, the desktop suddenly filled up
with copies of these icons. There are literally hundreds
of the damned things. I've tried deleting them, but they
seem endless, in fact I reckon Windows is creating more.

The PC is totally stand-alone; it's not connected to the
internet, nor do I ever install any new software on it.
As it only has a very small HD (420Mb) I am using a
compressed drive (H).

I've never come across anything like this before, so I'm
hoping someone out there can help me, please?

Geoff

I'm thinking it may have to do with "ISSHORTCUT", or so I think cquirke
may once have said. Have you run something to disable shortcut arrows?
Then, undo that.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
| I have an old PC running W98SE with just a few
| applications loaded. These apps each have an icon on the
| desktop. A few days ago, the desktop suddenly filled up
| with copies of these icons. There are literally hundreds
| of the damned things. I've tried deleting them, but they
| seem endless, in fact I reckon Windows is creating more.
|
| The PC is totally stand-alone; it's not connected to the
| internet, nor do I ever install any new software on it.
| As it only has a very small HD (420Mb) I am using a
| compressed drive (H).
|
| I've never come across anything like this before, so I'm
| hoping someone out there can help me, please?
|
| Geoff

Geoff wrote in message ...
I have an old PC running W98SE with just a few
applications loaded. These apps each have an icon on the
desktop. A few days ago, the desktop suddenly filled up
with copies of these icons. There are literally hundreds
of the damned things. I've tried deleting them, but they
seem endless, in fact I reckon Windows is creating more.

The PC is totally stand-alone; it's not connected to the
internet, nor do I ever install any new software on it.
As it only has a very small HD (420Mb) I am using a
compressed drive (H).

I've never come across anything like this before, so I'm
hoping someone out there can help me, please?

Geoff

Right-click on the Start button and choose Explore
Expand the C drive tree
Expand the Windows folder tree
Click on the Desktop folder to display the contents
Click on View and choose Details
Click on "Name" on the Title Bar to sort the Icons by Name
Click once on the second instance of the first duplicate Icon
Hold down the Shift key and click on the last instance
of the first duplicate Icon
Click Delete on the Button bar
Repeat for each additional group of duplicates
Continue until you are left with just one of each,
OR it is obvious that you are getting nowhere fast.

Thank you both for your helpful replies. I was able to
get rid of over 400 icons by using Explorer to delete
them from the Desktop folder. Still don't know what
caused the problem in the first place, but hey, they're
gone! Finger's crossed...

As for the utility for getting rid of the arrow on the
shortcut icon, I have never used one of these, but it's
useful to know this might screw something up.

Again, many thanks for your help.

Geoff

You are welcome. Glad to hear they are gone.

It's only rumor (& I love WinZip, which is sending me messages now that
ver. 9.1 is available), but someone once said he had "duplicate"
files/something, & his solution was to have WinZip reclaim it's files
associations. I know nothing more.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
| Thank you both for your helpful replies. I was able to
| get rid of over 400 icons by using Explorer to delete
| them from the Desktop folder. Still don't know what
| caused the problem in the first place, but hey, they're
| gone! Finger's crossed...
|
| As for the utility for getting rid of the arrow on the
| shortcut icon, I have never used one of these, but it's
| useful to know this might screw something up.
|
| Again, many thanks for your help.
|
| Geoff