Please move the thread if necessary. I don't know where else to post this issue I'm having, which I hope someone out there knows about it.
I'm using Vista Business x86 w/ SP1. I don't know when the problem started but I know it was recent. For some reason, many of the software icons disappeared and won't show up any more. By disappear I mean they appear like the default icons. I currently use IconPackager to switch between icon themes. But even when I tried to have it switch to the Vista default theme, many of the icons still don't show up properly. File type icons seem to work as needed. But software shortcuts don't. Even install and executable files don't show their icons properly.
What's even weirder is that when I go to my Start Panel and try to browse through my programs, opening up folder isn't instantaneous any more. It just sits there like it's waiting for something and I get that animated icon as though it's searching for files.
I've tried clearing the icon cache and I also tried rebuilding icons through IconPackager. Neither seem to work. I even tried deleting the icon cache database file but that doesn't appear to work. I hope someone out there knows something so I can get those icons back. It's awful having to see a bunch of shortcuts to your softwares and games appear as default icons.