hello all.

I have no idea how this happened, it happened after my computer had been on for hours.

But since about half an hour ago all my folder icons, eg: My Computer, My Documents C:\, and even the show desktop icon in the taskbar, have been replaced by the icon windows uses when it doesn't recognise the filetype.

even some stuff like ad aware and my GTA San Andreas Icon have been changed, but when i go to the properties and change icon manaully they come back to normal.
this doesn't work for the folders however.

i did notice that before i restarted my computer to try and fix this problem, that all icons were doing this, but now it seems to be just the folders.

anyone ever had this before and know how to fix it?

Run the Error Check:

My Computer> right click on Local Drive- usually C> Properties> Tools> Error Check> check both boxes on the screen that comes up> OK.

Close the nag message and reboot. Let the process run. Computer will reboot when done.

See if this changes the icons back. If it does not, try doing a System Restore to date right before the icons changes.

And of course you have run all your security scans to make sure you don't have any malware.

Happened to me yesterday, nothing more than a PDP (primary display problem)
Restarting fixed the problem for me but....if you are using software like Icon x and windows blinds, and icon packager this can also cause the problem, disable it at startup and restart, again.