PCTech Forums

Just restored a friends system to a former restore point. in xp...

in order to get around a spy or virus that had recently installed itself..

everything is cool and clean now..

AND i've added a few more utilities to his desk top to keep things that way.. "cleaner"

Anyway now he is getting "unused icons on desktop"

DOES THAT a) mean the links to the programs are no longer valid?

or b) that i should use the clean up wizard to remove them.. ?

he basically has not uninstalled anything.. probably picked a restore point prior to the last installation of a new application that he was running?..

What do you recommend?

thanx all

Win XP has a Desktop Cleanup Wizard that will run every 60 days by default.It will ask to move the "unused icons" to a folder.This doesnt mean there no longer valid,it simply means that these are icons that are rarely used.You can disable the Wizard:

Right click on the desktop and select properties
Click the "Desktop" tag
Click the "Customize Desktop" button near the bottom of the window
Uncheck "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard Every 60 Days"

You also should visit written by Teststrips on spyware and virus.He has links to all the necessary software to insure your friends PC is clean.I highly recommend Ad-aware and visiting trend micro.