Windows 7 Help

Technology and Gaming Help and Support
#1

Ok, first of all I am really REALLY digging Windows 7.

Now that we have that out of the way, WHY THE HELL IS THERE PERMISSIONS AND ACCESS ISSUES ALL THE TIME!!!???AND WHY THE HELL ARE MY ICONS SCREWY!!??

I am the owner of the computer, I am the only user on the computer, there are no others, so why does everything have to be granted administration rights or permissions or access when I move or change a file? sheesh!

Yesterday, I got tired of getting blocked by this insanity and I went into my computer, right clicked, and reassigned ownership of the c drive to my user profile rather than to the “administrator”. It took a couple minutes and it rejected the change on a handful of files, but it made the change.

Now this morning, some of my icons on my desktop are not assigned. Steam, document.docx, hp photosmart, and other icons. They are there, and the shortcuts work, but the icons are the blank icons rather than the icons they should be assigned to.

I broke it didnt I. :fffuuu:

#2

You didn’t break it, you just temporarily messed it up :slight_smile: Windows 7 is a lot like Windows Vista when it first came out, in the sense that Microsoft is trying to create more user-friendly (well more like retard-friendly) operating systems. Meaning they come cram packed with a lot of features for the inexperienced user, even if we aren’t. But its built a lot more solidly than Vista or XP, so i’d stick with it once you can customize it the way you want.

Anyway, to fix the annoyance (UAC - User Account Control):

  1. Just type UAC into the start menu or Control Panel search box.

  2. Click on the link with the little flag that says “Change User Account Control Settings”

  3. You can simply drag the slider up or down, depending on how often you want to be alerted.

If you drag it all the way down to the bottom, you’ll have disabled it entirely.

As for your icons, i know this might be an annoying way to do it, but if you still have the shortcuts located in you start menu (and they appear correctly), then it should be as simple ans deleting the ones on your desktop, and moving the ones from you start menu onto your desktop. If not, we will tackle that later.

Also, just wanted to say HELLO. I’ve been browsing these forums for a little over 2 years now, and finally decided to register.

#3

Welcome to the forums and thanks for making your first post a HELP post!

So here is few more stupid questions:

  1. Why disable the UAC and will this fix my icon problem?

  2. My icons are the missing/default/error icons for both my desktop AND my start menu. EVEN my Microsoft office icons. (Go figure!)

  3. Should I also go back to the c drive and reassign the “owner” to the “administrator” listing rather than my own profile listing? Would that have ANYthing to do with my icon problem I wonder?

#4

Reasighn the permissions, then disable UAC. It works in the way that no account is the administrator, but you just use the administrator password when a system wide change needs permission to continue.

#5

Ok, I think I know how to change it back, however how do I assign the administrator a password? The only “profile” on this computer is mine and THAT is an administration user. (gah!?)

Meanwhile, here is a pic of the problem I was trying to describe. Oh, and notice how the steam icon is wrong, yet the steam game “plants vs. zombies” has the correct icon. And is that the right icon for Office? There are two shown in the start menu.

#6

No one is ever really logged on as an admin within 7. If you didn’t create a password, it’ll just ask you for permission to continue. The background will grey out, and a box will appear saying “This software wants to …blah… Click ok to allow”.

That means your the administrator. If it asks for a password, then your not.

#7

okey dokey. I reassigned the c drive to “administrator” to be the owner, and my UAC is all the way down/off.

My icons are still wrong tho. Any other ideas perhaps?

EDIT: Used a free trial period program called https://www.microangelo.us/ and it allows me to choose the icon by right click / Appearance

I would still be curious to know why they all wigged out in the first place.

#8

Have you tried ending the explorer.exe process and restarting it?

#9

windows rule #1 = Never use trial software

it has the built in option to change the default icon, in the properties menu choose the shortcut tab or the customize tab and the “change icon” button should be there.

in XP there was also the ability to change the icon for any extension but I can’t find it in 7.

From here it looks like a registry bug or an error occured while office was being installed.

#10

Just so you know, UAC isn’t to protect you from other users on the pc, that’s what your password is for. UAC is to prevent programs themselves from doing nasty things on your pc, which is why it pops and up says “Allow program X to make changes to your computer” or some such thing. It’s really a GOOD thing, but most people don’t understand it.

#11

Yesterday, I got tired of getting blocked by this insanity and I went into my computer, right clicked, and reassigned ownership of the c drive to my user profile rather than to the “administrator”. It took a couple minutes and it rejected the change on a handful of files, but it made the change.

Revert this to the way it was before. Either by a Recovery Console or just switching it back. Your icons should fix themselves.

#12

No, it’s just annoying as hell, and it’s not necessary if you have sense.

#13

I reverted the ownership, but the icons are still at the ‘default’ white icon.

Googling icon issues for windows 7, it appears mr. gates felt it was too big of a responsibility for users to be able to change the icon, so in short you cant. To not have the ability to change the icon in windows 7 is functioning as designed. GRR!

I tried what that guide says, and it works… however I wonder do I really have to go in and edit the registry for all of the shortcuts that are missing an icon!!!

Have you tried ending the explorer.exe process and restarting it?
Yup.

windows rule #1 = Never use trial software
Normally I dont, but I was curious if this would let me fix it and it does. However I have the feeling the icons will revert back once the trial is up.

This is insane. GAH!

#14

That’s really strange, I was able to change icons in the RC…

Have you right-clicked on the shortcuts then pressed properties? There should be a customize tab with a “Folder Icon” sub-heading that has a “Change Icon…” button under it… if it doesn’t I don’t know what Microsoft were thinking :frowning:

#15

I use windows 7 ultimate and icon’s are easy to change.

Just right click on the icon and select properties… the middle button changes the icon.

Properties menu

#16

Fuck That.

#17

Why can’t you change the icons, if you just right-click them and choose Change Icon you can point it to the icon file.

#18

That doesn’t work for every type of icon. Only shortcuts and folders.

#19

I know on WinXP you could repair your shortcuts with TweakUI, maybe there’s something like that for Vista/7?

EDIT: I found this power tool for tweaking Vista/7 maybe you could give it a go?
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-fix-windows-7-vista-problems-with-fixwin-utility

#20

You could try to rebuild your icon cache

Tune UP Utilities can do that, it has a trial version :wink: (yieks, I just figured this piece of software might only be available in German… not quite sure though)
maybe just try to google rebuild icon cache, there certainly are other programs capable of doing the job.

gl :3

Edit: Here’s a guide explaining how to rebuild it manually. Link

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