I recently found many application would not save to correct type. Some software icons would come out to a blank or white block, but those software actually there. For example, realrecorder is running, it would come out a white block on taskbar on bottom. like this. I tried use 'access and program default' in control panel, still not fix the issue. Ms word, and word pad also come out white blank icon. Any suggestions ?
Tried this? ie4uinit.exe -ClearIconCache taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F DEL "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" /A shutdown /r /f /t 00
Almost like Murphy said, but a few other steps added. from mydigitallife. info/fix-blank-or-white-shortcut-icons-on-desktop/ (remove spaces cannot post links yet) Once inside the folder, delete IconCache.db. Create a new file named IconCache.db, and set it to Read Only attribute in Properties (if the file is not read only, the cache won’t be reset). Then restart the computer. Remove the Read Only attribute of IconCache.db file, and the icons cache will be refreshed. The step will restore the desktop shortcut icons to their lawfully icons.
I don't believe it has anything to do with icon cache then. It's probably some sort of file association thing. A family member of mine had some weird thing where .lnk (shortcut files) were opening in notepad for some strange reason. Rare things like this can happen. You should try doing some google searches and see if you can narrow it down to things like registry problems or group policy settings or something weird like that.
I just tried uninstall and reinstall adobe reader, looks like pdf file icon fixed. All the office icons still missing, and some other software. I guess I will have try each single one see if reinstall will fix some.