Desktop puzzle

**4bee** · 12th April 2009, 08:49 AM

Win. XP Pro. SP2.

A couple of days ago my desktop decided it wanted an ID change & a split personality so decided it liked the 1/5th x 4/5ths look.

Left side of the screen is the normal XP blue while the 4/5ths on the right decided it wanted to be white.

Icons move around ok & the Desktop image is partly concealed behind the white.

The screen now contains the "Do you want to restore your desktop?"

But that only brings up an I Ex Script Error box "line 65 / Char 1./ Error message about not supporting this action. A url .......... . Do you still want to to continue running script Y/N? Does not do a thing except make that box disappear.

If I try to follow the url, it peters out before ....... /Application/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Desktop htt. so I cannot get any further.

When booting from cold the screen is perfect until the last action, when it slips into 1/5 / 4/5th mode.

Are the two problems connected & if so what can I do about it/either please.

Thanks in anticipation

**dmdigital** · 12th April 2009, 09:00 AM

Go into the Registry editor and change the value of this key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\SafeMode\Components\DeskHtmlVersi on
to zero. Should resolve the issue.

**4bee** · 12th April 2009, 09:50 AM

Thanks. Have done that but still the same. Does that action need a reboot?

**dmdigital** · 12th April 2009, 10:31 AM

Could well do as the desktop loads at startup

**4bee** · 12th April 2009, 10:54 AM

Thanks DM, that looks like it's sorted. I didn't note the Reg Ed figures down but they were into 3 figures & certainly not 0.

Just need to sort out the remaining problem of my Active Desktop Recovery Script thingy as I still cannot get past Des, to Applications/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Desktop htt.

If only it was another Regedit.

**4bee** · 12th April 2009, 12:02 PM

This is sooooo weird.

If I right click on the Desktop & select ...

"Arrange Icons to...................." > "Lock Web Items on Desktop". I get the white screen.

If I untick "Lock Web Items....." the screen returns to the Win XP Pro blue Desktop.

Instead of locking the items I will leave them unlocked to eliminate the 'Active Desktop Recovery' Screen.

I don't know if there is a Techie reason for this but it will do me for now.

**dmdigital** · 12th April 2009, 01:02 PM

Not sure on this one. Have you Googled the issue?

You're starting to remind me why I moved over to Mac

**4bee** · 12th April 2009, 01:21 PM

I think it started last week when I took someone's advice to try out Ubuntu & run it as a trial alongside Windoze which one is supposed to be able to do.

It may have altered the registry & who knows what else? As it turned out, it was such a PITA that I uninstalled it, but it probably left some Reg. alterations behind even though I cleaned out the last bits of files I could find with Revo Uninstaller.

The old story of "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is"

.

No, DM I haven't Googled it. Letting sleeping Dingoes lie & all that.

Thanks for your input.

**dmdigital** · 12th April 2009, 01:34 PM

It definitely sounds registry or config related. Have a look through the startup items in MSCONFIG and see if that turns anything up. Otherwise, I'd go for Google.

Just had another thought. Try looking through Annoyances.org. I found this with a quick search: Desktop items highlight problem (Windows XP Discussion Forum)

**abaddonxi** · 12th April 2009, 06:40 PM

What's that XP go back thingy?

Ah, restore points.

Cheers
Simon

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