Icon appears on desktop out of nowhere

[eknirb]

I only have two icons on the desktop...Chrome and Recycle.

I rebooted the other day...and all of a sudden there was 'Google Earth.'

Rebooted earlier today...and there was "Norton Internet Security.'

?

 

[Infinite]

Run Malwarebytes and see if it finds anything.

You could also try an SFC SCAN

 

[eknirb]

Malwarebytes and Super AntiSpyware show -0- problems

 

[Infinite]

Try doing an SFC SCAN still but you could also try downloading MSE and scanning.

 

[eknirb]

I can't have MSE on this PC, I run Norton Internet Security. That SFC Scan looks kinda scary.

 

[Infinite]

The SFC Scan is 100% safe, it will just fix all corrupted System Files.

 

[whs]

These programs got installed with some other program and you did not uncheck them during the installation (it is not always obvious). If you do not want them, just uninstall them. On your desktop it is just shortcuts.

 

[eknirb]

running the SFC now. As I said earlier, they just appeared out of nowhere. They had been installed long ago.


I also noticed the LIVE UPDATE icon in my start menu was now broken. Curious.

 

[eknirb]

SFC done------Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

 

[whs]

If they had been installed already, the icons could have come with an automatic update. E.g. Norton is notorious for that, but also other programs.

 

[eknirb]

so you mean if the program updates itself, it pops the icon onto the desktop?

 

[Infinite]

Try this too:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49819-icon-cache-rebuild.html

 

[whs]

so you mean if the program updates itself, it pops the icon onto the desktop?

Yes, some do that. Not sure when and why but I had that happen to me too.

 

[Saint Andrew]

Run your Anti-Virus and Malware. Also, boot into Safe Mode.

 

[bug67]

I can think of several programs that re-install desktop icons when they auto-update. Google Earth certainly does. iTunes does.

As whs stated, some of these things get installed with other installations. You have to be careful if you don't want "extras" installed. Seems everything I install wants me to install Chrome and make it my default browser. :sarc:

I'm not sure about others but, if you don't want Google auto-updating, go to Start Menu and type in "Task Scheduler." From there, you can disable any Google auto-updates.

 

[JZS]

FTR, after installing several windows updates earlier today, and rebooting my machine, I now have a desktop icon for "Norton Internet Security" which was not there before the reboot. I am running NIS on this machine, but just as was mentioned in the OP, the NIS desktop icon appeared out of nowhere.

 

[whs]

FTR, after installing several windows updates earlier today, and rebooting my machine, I now have a desktop icon for "Norton Internet Security" which was not there before the reboot. I am running NIS on this machine, but just as was mentioned in the OP, the NIS desktop icon appeared out of nowhere.

Yeah, NIS does that after nearly every NIS update. Just delete it.