Windows 7: Problem with Desktop Gadgets

I had a flaky install of McAfee go wrong and when I uninstalled and restarted all my desktop gadgets stopped working. UAC is turned on, it's always on, by default and I like it that way.

Anyway I'm going to use the snipping tool to grab an image for you.

As you can see from the image below I'm unable to see any images for my gadgets, it's really annoying. I've been praising Windows 7 for not having to reformat/reinstall like previous versions and I hope I still don't have to.

Have you tried a system restore??

System Restore is always disabled on my machines, if I had System Restore, I probably wouldn't be here.

Try cleaning your registry using ccleaner or similar, reboot, and report back.

I've done that, I'm currently uninstalling the desktop gadget platform as seen from another thread. Then I will reinstall it, and if that doesn't work, I'm going to run SFC /SCANNOW. So I will let you know how that goes. I was tired last night and didn't think of uninstall/reinstall.

Okay, I have:
Uninstalled and reinstalled Desktop Gadgets - Not Resolved
Ran SFC /SCANNOW - No Errors - Not Resolved
Created a Test User Account - Not Resolved

I saw a correlation between Gadgets and PNG files so I went and opened one of my graphics and sure enough I'm unable to view PNG files. I am wondering if I have lost the extension in the registry somehow. I can view PNG in thumbnails in folders, but as soon as I open them with any image viewing tool they go blank.

*I can view PNG files via Web Browsers (Just Tested)
*I still cannot view PNG files within Windows

Hello Midnightwolf,

You might see if using the PNG download, and any other you may need, in the tutorial below may help. It will restore all of it's default file associations.

Default File Type Associations - Restore

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I tried fixing the PNG and XML file extensions and that didn't work.

So I went to one of the gadgets and double-clicked the .js file and it gave an error:

"Can't find script engine to open script (jscript)"

Fixed!

Open Command Prompt as an Administrator

Log Off / Log On

Gadgets are now functioning properly.

That's great news Midnightwolf. Thank you for posting back with your results and solution.

I know it's been a long time since the last post here but this is the only thread I found that talks about the exact problem I'm having but the solution here did not work for me. I have tried everything midnightwolf76 has tried including the cmd "regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\jscript.dll" and logging off and on but the problem persists. Just like him I can't see the Windows Sidebar .png files but I can other .png files of my own. I also have system restore disabled and I really wanted to get this fixed without reinstalling windows. Is there anything else that can be done?