I am running Avast 6.0.1125 on a Windows 7 32-bit platform. I have Adaware and Spybot running in the background. Last evening before I went to bed my desktop had all of my normal icons including “My Computer” and 5 Quicken icons which point to different data files. Now it’s less than 24 hours later and the icons for “My Computer” and 4 of the Quicken icons are gone. Everything else appears normal. There is no evidence of any virus or malware…all current scans have been clean. Any idea what is causing this?
Well, Adaware has an AV component built into it now, so running it along with any other AV could cause problems. I would remove it, see if the problem goes away. Not to say the icons will re-appear when you remove it, but rather keep any more from pulling a Houdini act.
btw, your email is showing public on the forum.
I’d uninstall Adaware, Spybot and avast!. Be sure to run the avast! uninstall tool. http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
Then re-install avast! 6. I recommend ZA fw, WinPatrol and either or both Mbam and SuperAntispyware.
http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/
http://www.filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/
http://www.filehippo.com/download_winpatrol/
http://www.filehippo.com/download_superantispyware/
http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/
You might also check in “Windows Task Scheduler” to see anything ran at night that might have cleaned these icon.
You might also want to read this. I don’s know if it applies to XP. Windows may be cleaning them based upon a last used date or something like that.
The removal of shortcuts is caused by a cleanup task in Windows 7 that is planned to run on sunday at 1 o'clock AM. This cleanup task scans the shortcuts on the desktop and removes any shortcuts for which it cannot find the destination file (or when it doesn't have the appropriate permissions).This task is called “Diagnosis”. To disable it:
Open the Start Menu.
Go to Control Panel , System and Security , Administrative Tools (near the bottom) , Task Scheduler , Task Scheduler (Local) (near the upper left) , Task Scheduler Library , Microsoft , Windows , Diagnosis. In the right pane , Right click on Scheduled , choose ‘Disabled’.btw … This task can be started manuelly here:
Control Panel > Troubleshooting > System & Security > Run Maintenance Tasks.
It doesn’t apply to XP-Home or XP-Pro. Phew, I’m safe or I use my machines too much.