Windows 7: Strange Win 7 Issue

Just came back from a restart and all of the sudden, ALL of my desktop icons have a little yellow padlock on the bottom left.

No idea how or why this is happening.

I haven't changed any settings/permissions, etc.

How do I "unlock" these icons?

What's going on over here Windows???

As far as i am aware this is a Windows 7 permission issue.

I would suggest you try this solution and see if it works for you.

Let me know how you go with that.

Nope, didn't work.

All my desktop items (apps, folders, etc) are padlocked. Ridiculous nonsense.

A liitle more info would help.

What are the permisiions on those files?

Post a screenshot of properties>security tabs .

Nope - doesn't impart any useful information.