Windows 7: Desktop icons change after renaming!!

I'm running Win 7 Home premium 64. Everything is running great, but I have one small complaint. As you know, some desktop icons have a really long name, so I like to rename them with a shorter name. When I do, some of them turn into a generic icon the next time I reboot. If I just keep the name given to the icon by the software install, everything is fine. I am including a pic. I've tried refreshing the icons, but that doesn't work. If I change the color depth to 16 bit, then back to 32 bit, that fixes it. I will have to see if it sticks next time I reboot. But why does it happen in the first place?
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Have you removed something like .lnk or .exe or whatever?

The only thing I did was rename a few of my icons. That's when it happens. If I used my imaging software and restored back to the point where I hadn't renamed them, they would be fine. I had this same problem with Vista.

I think it has something to do with changing settings in advanced appearance. I like to adjust font size etc.

Can you try deleting one shortcut, then going to the everest folder, choose the .exe and choose send to desktop after right-clicking the icon. Then reboot. See if that stays the same.

The icons are also the generic ones under start>all programs. Only the ones that are generic on the desktop. They are also generic in their folder under program files.

What's weird is, if I decrease "caption buttons" size in Windows color and appearance, the icons system wide turn back to normal. Increase it back to 24, which is what it is in my screen capture, and I get those few generic icons again system wide. Any number over 17, and I get the generic icons. Problem is, 17 makes my icons down by the clock super tiny.
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Its a problem with advanced appearances. I wouldn't use it, it can get confusing if you change too many settings. Choose the default windows 7 aero theme. Does that work?

Are there known issues with advanced appearances?

Depends on what you change. Reset the original aero theme.

Well, I have all my fonts set up, including font size. I don't really want to change anything. I decided to just delete all the desktop icons and use Nexus for my icons. Nexus works great!!

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