› 
I came across a mysterious case of the icon overlap problem in a Windows Vista computer. The screenshot below explains the problem. Upon closer observation, you could see the actual icon for shortcuts is being overlapped by a unknown icon. So I was sure that this is caused by an Icon Overlay override.
As this problem was seen only for shortcuts (.lnk and .url files), I suspected that the problem is with the Shell Icons key, where you can hide or change the arrow icon for shortcuts. (REF: How to remove or modify the Shortcut overlay in Windows Vista). I then asked for the export of this registry key:
As expected, the value named 29 did exist and was pointing to the following icon file:
After deleting the value named 29 and restarting Windows, the problem was resolved. Looks like the above referenced .ico file above does not play well with Windows Vista.
I came across this question in the AumHa forums run by Microsoft MVP James Eshelman, where I participate and also moderate posts occasionally. You can read the thread Desktop icons covered over where Microsoft MVP Bill Castner and I replied to.
Something I thought I’d share!
Bookmark this Page!
Related Posts
- How to Modify or Disable Disk Defragmenter Schedule in Windows 7 and Windows Vista
- WhoCrashed: Free Crash Dump Analyzer for Windows
- Serious Disk Cleanup Problem in Windows Caused by Broken Registration
- Snipping Tool Is an Integrated Feature in Windows 7?
- RegASSASSIN Resets ACL Permissions and Deletes Stubborn Registry Keys Easily
- Restore Missing “Mozilla Firefox” Entry to Set Program Access and Defaults in Windows XP
- New Shortcut Wizard Does Not Work or the Option Is Missing in Windows Vista
- Using the Desktop Background Slideshow Feature in Windows 7
- How to Remove Scan Using Spybot-Search&Destroy Option From the Right-Click Menu
- How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Vista and Windows 7
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed! We feature Tips, Troubleshooting information, Scripts and Utilities for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems!
Prefer an E-mail subscription?
Hi,
Thank you very much for the icon overlap fix. I deleted the register key “29″ on my vista 64 machine and it fixed the overlap problem. I’ve spent hours and hours scouring google for this fix. Tried so many things that didn’t work. Thanks again. ~Rose