desktop and systray icons suddenly changed

[flamenco]

Hi,
I was doing some work with my XP R61i, many browser tabs open with Firefox, doing some text editing in another rogram, a Windows explorer window open.

Suddenly my Quick Launch icons became nearly identical, black and white instead of color. Then I looked at the desktop, and those icons also matched each other instead of the normal ones, also black and white. I did a desktop refresh, and no joy. Curiously, the icons at the far right of the systray remained OK.

I had some trouble getting the laptop to shutdown Windows, finally did it from Win Task Manager. A cold boot fixed everything.

I think the cause may have been my buggy Java text editor, maybe leaking some memory, but hard to say. I'm probably just paranoid now, but when I look closely at my Start Menu icons, they seem a tiny bit grainier now (I never really looked close before). I also noticed that my graphic options are set to 16-bit, although I never checked that before either.

Has this ever happened to any of you? Any thoughts? Or is this just a hiccup?

Thanks!

[truk]

Your color should be at 32 bit. They are a little grainier at 16 bit, since there are fewer colors to use. Once in a while I have a similar issue where a program causes windows to lose its setting for a few minutes. I just set them back (use the fn display key if you have one.) They can be changed through the properties. I probably set you back to 256 color, and then re-set it to 16 bit at reboot. Fix it and don't worry unless you keep having troubles.

[GomJabbar]

I can't say exactly what caused your problem. Could be Java I guess. Could possibly be malware. Could be a program that crashed or hung.

If the problem recurs, try reregistering shell.dll and shell32.dll. You might also try deleting your shell icon cache. See following for more info.

Windows Tips: Fix Windows Glitches by Re-registering Your DLLs

[flamenco]

Thank you both for the information.

As it happens, I had reset it to 32-bit, and the icons looked good again. I also downloaded a new version of what may have been the offending program, so the memory overrun condition will hopefully be better.

The info about DLL's is interesting.

Thanks again!