Desktop Icons problem.

This is a minor problem that is annoying me intensely so I would be very grateful for assistance.in solving. My laptop operates with Windows 10 with all the latest updates. A couple of days ago the quick start icons on my desktop suddenly all changed to plain white. I fiddled around and by luck managed to restore most. Two of them are, however giving me a problem in that they are now appearing as a bluish globe and it is for these I need help.
When I try to restore theses two previous icons by right clicking on the globes and selecting "Properties" followed by "Change Icon" etc, they revert to the globe. I am, however, able to replace the globes by using other icons though not with the two I have been using for a couple of years or so without a hitch. They are both for opening websites, one of which is for Youtube, though this is perhaps of no significance to the problem. The other point, which may be of more significance, is that I keep the Icons for these and other sites in a Documents file. I don't use Icons from Windows Icon cache file.
Could the original Icons have been corrupted by the recent incident but, if so, why only these two and why, as a matter of interest, do they use the globe?

Hi I would try rebuilding the icon cache Rebuild Icon Cache in Windows 10

gordon99 said:

... the quick start icons on my desktop suddenly all changed to plain white....

What are you referring to as "quick start icon"? An Internet Shortcut (.url) or a .lnk shrotcut?


Some .url shortcuts on the desktop have icon information in an Alternate Data Stream. Open a Command Prompt to the appropriate Desktop folder & type:

dir *.url /r

Code:

C:\Users\keith\Desktop>dir *.url /r
 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is F057-590D

 Directory of C:\Users\keith\Desktop

07/25/2020  02:36 PM               169 Ancestry DNA REsults.url
05/25/2020  12:46 PM               223 Batch is Dead.url
04/21/2021  01:21 PM               197 CTA  Bus Tracker.url
                                 1,406 CTA  Bus Tracker.url:favicon:$DATA
                                 1,406 CTA  Bus Tracker.url:favicon.ico:$DATA
                                17,560 CTA  Bus Tracker.url:favicon.ico.ico:$DATA
07/22/2018  11:19 PM               373 FIles, Folders, and Storage.url
06/02/2020  04:16 AM               196 I discover JumpListItems_Maximun.url
03/04/2021  12:48 AM               208 Morning Joe - Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, & Willie Geist.url
                                15,086 Morning Joe - Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, & Willie Geist.url:favicon:$DATA
                                15,086 Morning Joe - Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, & Willie Geist.url:favicon.ico:$DATA
                               276,676 Morning Joe - Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, & Willie Geist.url:favicon.ico.ico:$DATA
07/01/2020  12:43 AM               174 Stack Overflow - View Question.url
03/04/2021  12:48 AM               299 Technet forums.url
                                   894 Technet forums.url:favicon:$DATA
                                   894 Technet forums.url:favicon.ico:$DATA
                                16,584 Technet forums.url:favicon.ico.ico:$DATA
               8 File(s)          1,839 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  618,529,976,320 bytes free

Thanks all. No, I have not changed my default web browser. Am still with Firefox. When I look a little deeper I now realise the problem is only occurring with what the Shortcut Icon(s) Properties refer to as Web Documents i.e the shortcuts that open web programs, not programs on the PC. The shortcut Icons I had been using were all working fine until a few days ago. Now I cannot change them from a blue/green globe. I am sure it is nothing I have done so I can only conclude a Microsoft update is causing the problem. The ICO shortcuts I was previously using for these web programs are fine as they work when I try them on non-web programs.

Have managed to get the YouTube Icon to install by stopping and re-starting Windows Explorer, but no luck as yet with one other Icon. I have compared the non-functioning icon Properties with the now functioning YouTube (Web Document) icon and apart from the name and size I can see no essential difference. As I previously reported, this particular icon, which is for "Plot-a-Route", was working successfully for a long time. I will try another Windows Explorer shut down to see if this works and will report back. Many thanks everybody for your suggestions.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi all, I have given up trying to use the not-working Icon and have downloaded another that works. I tried ending and re-starting Windows Explorer but it made no difference this time having worked for my Yputube Icon. By the way, Wisewiz, the globe Icon that had, to my annoyance, replaced the one I had been using, looked like the green URL globe posted by Farvatten.
Thank you all once again for trying to help. Much appreciated.