Saturday, June 23, 2018

Power shortcuts and rebuilding the icon cache

Windows 10.

I think every version of Windows since XP (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10) suffers from an 'icon cache' glitch, leaving some icons missing or 'broken'.

I've tried different solutions, but this one seems to do the job every time.

In addition I've added some icons and batch files to quickly add power related shortcuts on your desktop.


Rebuilding icon cache

Windows messes up its icon cache now and again (no clue why). Typical symptoms are 'empty' icons (Windows 10) or 'broken' icons (Windows 7). I've seen several solutions, but didn;t always work. This is a compilation / combination of things I've found, and it seems to do the job, even though I only have a limited understanding of how this works 😅

  1. ie4uinit.exe -show
  2. taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F 
  3. DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" 
  4. DEL /A /F /Q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*"
  5. shutdown.exe /r /t 0

I've included this batchfile in the download.


Power shortcuts

There are several hints and tips on the Internet related to power shortcuts, allowing quick shutdown / standby / reboot and so on. Not all of these scripts are working properly, or they only work on XP, or Windows 7, or Windows 10.

I've included a few of these scripts as well as associated icons to make life easier. If one version doesn't work, there's another one at your service.


Other programs

I've included some programs required by these batch files.

  • psshutdown. exe
  • pssuspend.exe
  • tsdiscon.exe
  • switchuser.exe - use this one if tsdiscon doesn't work for you
  • reicon.exe - google and download 'desktopok' for Windows 8 and 10

These are, obviously, not mine, so please read any included documentation and licenses.


Icons

Some icons were retrieved from the internet, some exported, and some I've created myself. Icons are available in Windows 7 and Windows 10 styles.


Installation

Create a folder C:\software\power_shortcuts
Copy any of the .lnk files to your desktop as you see fit

All links and paths are 'hardcoded' so you have to modify them if you install in another location.


Download

You can download the archive here: http://www.ninelizards.com/other/power_shortcuts.zip


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