Icons on desktop do nothing

We have an older Windows ME system that has been working just fine until
lately. All of a sudden, no icons on the desktop work. Nothing happens if
you either right- or left-click on them, and you can't move or delete them.
Everything is just locked up. So if the user wants to open a program by
clicking on a desktop icon, she can't; instead, she has to click on Start
and manually select the program via the Start Menu.

We've tried copying shortcuts from the star menu to the desktop (to replace
"broken" shortcuts), but once they hit the desktop, they don't work either!

Any ideas what could be causing this weird behavior? I'm at a loss.

Try using System Restore to go back to a date immediately prior to the
appearance of the problem
(Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore)

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"Squigmont" wrote in message
. ..

We have an older Windows ME system that has been working just fine until
lately. All of a sudden, no icons on the desktop work. Nothing happens if
you either right- or left-click on them, and you can't move or delete
them. Everything is just locked up. So if the user wants to open a program
by clicking on a desktop icon, she can't; instead, she has to click on
Start and manually select the program via the Start Menu.

We've tried copying shortcuts from the star menu to the desktop (to
replace "broken" shortcuts), but once they hit the desktop, they don't
work either!

Any ideas what could be causing this weird behavior? I'm at a loss.