Clear / Rebuild Icon Cache

[dynexx69]

I really think it would be convenient if there was an option under system or advanced options for clearing / rebuilding your computer's icon cache.

Why? When your making icons with Photoshop or any other program, after you rename a icon that has existed on your computer before and its cached, and then you create a new one with the same file name it will show as the original icon that existed first. Another use, sometimes icons for programs will show up as a blank default white page even if the program hasn't been removed, this can be quite annoying and can be fixed with clearing / rebuilding the icon cache.

 

The current work around:

 

1. Close all folders that are currently open.

 

2. Open Task Manager

 

3. End Explorer.exe

 

4. Click File > New Task (Run…)

 

5. Type CMD.EXE

 

6. Commands:

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local

DEL IconCache.db /a

EXIT

 

7. Click File > New Task (Run…)

 

8. Type EXPLORER.EXE

 

Obviously this is a bit time consuming, opening up CCleaner would be much easier then all that

[Alan_B]

It is already there if you download Winapp2.ini.

 

In theory it gets rebuilt after deleting it.

 

In practice that fails XP Home on my Acer Laptop.

Being cautious I made a copy BEFORE using the option.

It never got rebuilt so I had to put the copy back.

[Super Fast]

Alan, did you try rebooting afterwards?

 

Sometimes Windows fixes things like that after a reboot or refresh.

[Andavari]

Actually yeah CCleaner really does need that feature! I'm surprised it's been around this long and lacking that one feature.

 

In the meantime a much quicker way to get the icon cache flushed and rebuilt is to switch your display card to a low color depth "16-bit" and then back to the preferred hi-res color and it will do the trick:

[dynexx69]

Actually yeah CCleaner really does need that feature! I'm surprised it's been around this long and lacking that one feature.

 

In the meantime a much quicker way to get the icon cache flushed and rebuilt is to switch your display card to a low color depth "16-bit" and then back to the preferred hi-res color and it will do the trick:

That's nice to know

[Crni]

The problem with rebuilding the cache is that even with CCleaner deleting the IconCache.db, you still need to manually kill Explorer.exe and it would be nice if CCleaner would automatically kill it, delete the cache, and start Explorer again, with a confirmation popup before the operation in order to notify user what it will do in case you have something important opened.

 

But, it would be ideal if CCleaner would be able to delete only the junk icons for missing apps as this way it will delete all of them and if you're hiding inactive icons you will need to reconfigure all of them from scratch which may be a bit annoying. Unfortunately, it seems even MS wasn't capable to fix this or simply doesn't care as there are several bugs related to this since XP was released, and there are no 3rd party tools capable of dealing with icon cache in such way either

[nodles]

The problem with rebuilding the cache is that even with CCleaner deleting the IconCache.db, you still need to manually kill Explorer.exe and it would be nice if CCleaner would automatically kill it, delete the cache, and start Explorer again, with a confirmation popup before the operation in order to notify user what it will do in case you have something important opened.

Probably wouldn't server the purpose of CCleaner, easy, light, simple and safe cleaning tool (doesn't kill any processes atm etc).

Otherwise a good idea.

[Crni]

Probably wouldn't server the purpose of CCleaner, easy, light, simple and safe cleaning tool (doesn't kill any processes atm etc).

Otherwise a good idea.

Yeah, you're right, but again it may offer an option to automate that process (i.e. a confirmation popup "Do you want to restart Explorer.exe process?")

[Alan_B]

Alan, did you try rebooting afterwards?

 

Sometimes Windows fixes things like that after a reboot or refresh.

I conduct "Due Diligence" before :-

running across a railway line (never yet risked it) or

ticking a CCleaner box I never ticked before.

 

I knew the risks so made a backup copy to fall back on,

and I also knew the rebuild needed a reboot.

What was NOT evident was how long to wait after reboot.

Therefore I made normal use of Windows for several 3 hour periods following shut-down and re-start,

but still no rebuild.

 

I tried many "guaranteed" solutions that never worked.

Eventually I found Regseeker did the job but had calamitous side effects.

All my desktop shorts had their positions placed in random/alphabetic sequence and in separate clusters depending upon which profile desktop held them.

Regshot captured the changes made by Regseeker - it was all "Bags of MUI Cache" far too large for me to have any mastery over.

 

I had to use an ERUNT backup to undo all the harm and restore my short-cuts into the FUNCTIONAL sequence where I expect to find them.

 

That was on my Laptop under XP.

When I feel the need for adventure I will see how Windows 7 on my Desktop does things