Arranging desktop icons

Having problems making my icons stay where I want them. ( this never used to happen) When I set them on align icons to grid I can arranging them any way I want. But, when I reboot my computer, or shut it down for the night, when the screen comes on again, the next day, the icons are all mixed up and scattered. If I set it to auto arrange the icons go where the machine wants them to go. Every time I move one, another pops into its place. Thanks for any help.

Windows often automatically repositions icons on the desktop when you change screen resolution or after a crash. Of course, there could also be a virus.

What OS are you using?

Windows7 64bit. I've never changed the screen resolution, and my system has never crashed. I know auto arrange will move the icons around, but it keeps then neatly spaced. When my desktop comes on screen after a restart, or in the morning when I first use it a couple of icons end up in the middle of the screen, way up at the top. a couple more are way over to the far right of the screen. Two or three are scattered around the middle of the screen.I always keep my bank, my credit card and anything I pay a monthly bill to, in the bottom center of the screen. They end up mixed in the main body of the icons. I'm getting kind of used to it now. I pretty much know where each icon is. Can't remember if this started before or after I installed AVG. If it was after I'll bet AVG caused it Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

I experienced a similar problem with a PC at work. The first thing that popped into my mind was that I had left the auto-arrange option enabled. It turned out that there was an issue with the user account profile.

I've also heard that this happens when a running application does not shut down properly. Have you checked the event viewer for any improper shut down errors or warnings? Does the same happen when you boot in safe mode?

Yup, what Bob and Dawn said. I'm currently not on a Windows OS, so I can only guide you from memory, but on my old PC, when such a thing had happened (virus), I cleansed my machine with Avast and Avira (after uninstalling Avast), and then started using a dock. Not only faster, but also uses less memory. RocketDock doesn't yet support 64-bit, but there are other options too, paid and free.

Thanks. I'll check into everything you mentioned.

I'm going to do a full scan with MSE. Because that's what I'm using now. If that doesn't help I'll do the Avast/Avira What exactally is a dock? Are they easy to set up? Do they hide the icons? Thank you.

Me again You fixed my icon problem. Not exactly how you suggested. But, without your post I never would have tried what I did.
I thought I remembered that this computer came with a Dock. So I wrote Dock in the start window. Combo 2 and combo came up above the start search window. Clicked on combo, it took me to ease of action where I found "Turn off automatic icon arrangement." Or words close to that. Clicked on it. Arranged my icons, did a restart and they stayed right where I put them.
I am going to go ahead and do a full scan with MSE, then Avast, and Avira. See if anything is lurking inside the works. I am having some trouble with pages that stop working and I get a pop up that says .page stopped working. Do I want to close or keep running. Hopefully the triple scan will fix the problem. Thanks again.

Haha, glad it helped.
You've gotta thank Dawn though. She mentioned the auto-icon arrangment. It had skipped my mind, you see, since I myself have 1 or 2 icons on my desktop, that too rarely. I generally use a Super-bar (Linux, XFCE).

Personally,I don't like desktop icons & was told to do this
Right click on your task bar at the bottom of the screen and click on “Toolbars” and then click on “Desktop”. This adds a small “Desktop>>” item to the task bar. When you click on the “>>” all your desktop icons are displayed, including their descriptions. Now, to hide your desktop icons, just right click on your desktop, click on “Arrange Icons By”, and then click on “Show Desktop Icons” (to remove the check mark). That’s all you need to do.
Am told it works on W7 too.

Dawn I owe you an apology I've been giving all the credit for fixing my icon problem to Marnomancer, and myself. Mar. pointed out that you are the one that pointed auto arrange icons setting. I think I might have thought you were talking about align icons to grid, because when I first read your post I didn't even know about the auto arrange. So thank you very much.

You have suggested this to me before. I like to see my desktop icons, Because they remind me to do things. Here's a perfect example. Yesterday when I told you about the MSE update. If I didn't have the Windows update icon on my desktop, right there where I can click on it once in a while. There's no telling how long it would be before I checked Windows upgrade, and saw the MSE upgrade.

@circusboy01: Hey, man, it's cool. No need to apologize. I'm glad the problem is fixed!

I understand.I didn't intend it for you personally,but just as general info.