OT File icon change

[Longstreet]

Has anyone heard of or had this phenomenon happen? My text and Zip files change their appearance on their own. I am Running Win98secEd. This has just crept up a few days ago. The text icons at one point turned into SEIV start up icon.If so is there a fix or is my dinosaur computer dying? Thanks all

[Ed Kolis]

did you try to open them in some unusual way?
try going to folder options on the control panel, then click on the file types tab and look at the file types that are messed up, see if they are associated with SE4 and if so change them to be associated with their original programs.

[Longstreet]

The first time I noticed this was when I went to send my game turn to the PBW. The text files in SEIV save game folder had changed from their normal icon. Then I checked other text and Zip files and found them all changed. As I was advised I rebooted computer and all was OK. Did a 3 and a half hour system virus scan and came up clean. I am just a little confused what could be causing this and why now. Have not installed any new programs lately. Rebooting seems to fix the change. Today when I first booted up there was no problem with the file icons at all. I keep thinking someone is going to say "you have just entered the Twilight Zone" Thanks for the quick response.

[David E. Gervais]

OT: comment on your name 'Longstreet'..

I remember a TV show way back when called Longstreet with James Francicus. I also liked it when Bruce Lee joind the cast for a series of episodes. Is you user name perhapes an obscure reference to your being a Bruce Lee fan?

Don't mind me, I'm just trying to justify all the junk in my head!

Cheers!

[Wardad]

It happens to me too. It suddenly atarted happening Last year. It comes up OK on reboot, w98se. Norton antivirus does not fix it.

[Fyron]

It is possibly just a result of poor RAM memory buffer clearing in win 98. When applications are run, they use so much RAM. When they close, win 98 does not clear up the memory they were using very well, so it remains used up until you reboot. This is why win 98 computers slow down after being on for a number of hours. It could also potentially cause weird things to happen, like random icon appearance changes. How long had the computer been on when this happened?

I forget what they are called, but there are some free programs out there that will free up the locked memory that isn't really being used, but is locked from poor RAM management in win 98 (and other earlier than 2000 windows OS).

[ April 11, 2003, 19:33: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Thermodyne]

Sounds like a problem with the user account profile to me. You might want to create a new user account and see if the new user does not have the problem. Also, I have seen this activity from disks that were at the end of their lives. The data involved here is stored on a high traffic area of the disk. You should run a good disk analyzer on it just to be sure.

[Baron Munchausen]

Various programs can screw with your filetypes, especially in the installation or uninstallation process. Try to find a program called TweakUI and install that. It's a utility from Microsoft that gives you lots of exta options for tinkering with your Windows installation, and among the options are the ability to restore icons or file types to defaults.

[Andrés]

I had the same problem Last year (or a similar one).
It has nothing to do with filetypes, all icons change randomly but files are named correctly and opened with the correct program. It only appears after working for a while, using icons from programs you have used and dissapears after rebooting.
It seems to be somekind of mixup in memory.
Unfortunately I don't know what's the cause or how to solve it. It only dissapeared after I reinstalled windows (into a new clean folder) and then of course had to reinstal all drivers programs.

[Longstreet]

First off David E my Longstreet if from Lt. Gen. James Longstreet from the Confederacy of the ACW.

Second I would give thanks to all the helpful comments and advice from every one. Now I have something to sink my teeth into and unwind this riddle. Thanks again guys