IE Favorites corrupted
Allyson
removed it with Norton's removal tool. Now my IE browser
is screwy. My favorites have been replaced with all of my
Windows system files! If I try to delete them from my
favorites, it deletes them totally from my system. (I
tested this by deleting one of my desktop background pics
Zapotec - and when I went into back display it was gone.)
BUT, if I go into explorer and view my folders, then my
favorites are in my favorites folder and my windows
system files are in my windows folder as they should be.
Is there such thing as a phantom file? Would uninstalling
and reinstalling IE6 delete my system files? Is a
reformat in order? I cannot restore as I had to turn off
that feature to do the Netsky removal tool and lost my
previous restore points. Any ideas are appreciated!
Alan Edwards
You can change the value of Favorites in the Registry in these
two keys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders
...Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/index.html
In microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser, "Allyson"
Allyson
system files out of IE favorites. The only thing is my
favorites in IE are now empty - but my favorites folder
in windows explorer still has my original files in it. It
seems to now be pointing to Windows\favorites instead of
Documents and Settings\Family\Favorites folder. What
exactly should the registry values be? When I change the
values to point directly to the family\favorites folder,
it gets changed when I exit the registry. Here is what
the registry keeps changing to.
User Shell Folders is C:\Windows\Favorites - Favorites is
the only one without the %.
Shell Folders is C:\Windows\favorites
Also, under current version\explorer\menu order there is
a favorites folder with what appears to be the windows
files that were showing in IE before I made the change.
Should that folder contain those files?
I appreciate all of your help!
Allyson
>-----Original Message-----
>It may be just the Registry reference that is wrong.
>You can change the value of Favorites in the Registry in
these
>two keys:
>
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersi
on\Explorer\Shell
>Folders
>
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersi
on\Explorer\User
>Shell Folders
>
>....Alan
>.
>
Alan Edwards
I can't tell you the exact values. In Win98, I have
C:\Windows\Favorites. In XP (I assume that is what you are using) it
is different and your longer folder name looks correct for you.
See if there is an equivalent key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE but I think
the answer may lie elsewhere. A virus? A parasite?
I will see what I can find.
The other key you found is a red-herring.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Favorites
That key only holds the order of the favorites that you see (or used
to)
Allyson
Netsky I just got rid of. I'm going to run a virus scan
again and see what it might find.
It appears the linking between my IE favorites menu
button and my actual favorites folder has changed. If I
bookmark a site now, instead of putting it into my
original favorites folder (C:\Documents and
Settings\Family\Favorites) it puts it in
C:\Windows\Favorites as the registry key points to.
Sooo...it bookmarks to Windows\favorites and points to
windows\favorites. Maybe I should just let it be? But I
hate it when things aren't right!!
In reference to the red-herring, should I delete the
system files that are in there? It must have put them in
there when they were in my favorites before.
Thank you so much for all your help!
>-----Original Message-----
>I am not sure what is changing them.
>I can't tell you the exact values. In Win98, I have
>C:\Windows\Favorites. In XP (I assume that is what you
are using) it
>is different and your longer folder name looks correct
for you.
>See if there is an equivalent key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
but I think
>the answer may lie elsewhere. A virus? A parasite?
>I will see what I can find.
>
>The other key you found is a red-herring.
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersi
on\Explorer\MenuOrder\Favorites
>That key only holds the order of the favorites that you
see (or used
>to)
>
>.
>
Allyson
keys you told me to change the values on and then created
new ones with the correct type (one was wrong) and
pointing to the correct folder. The new ones didn't get
changed when I closed the registry and I can now see my
original favorites in IE. So that ended up being a fairly
easy solution to a really big headache! Thanks for
pointing me in the right direction. I would have never
thought about the registry or what keys would even be
involved.
Allyson
>-----Original Message-----
>I am not sure what is changing them.
>I can't tell you the exact values. In Win98, I have
>C:\Windows\Favorites. In XP (I assume that is what you
are using) it
>is different and your longer folder name looks correct
for you.
>See if there is an equivalent key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
but I think
>the answer may lie elsewhere. A virus? A parasite?
>I will see what I can find.
>
>The other key you found is a red-herring.
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersi
on\Explorer\MenuOrder\Favorites
>That key only holds the order of the favorites that you
see (or used
>to)
>
>.
>
Alan Edwards
up the red-herring.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Favorites
doesn't have any files in it. It only hold the menu order.
You can delete it if you like.It will be rebuilt and all your
favorites will be in alpha order. I delete mine occasionally instead
of sorting by name.
Angie
instead of \Documents and Settings\username\Favorites.
No matter what I change in the registry, when I open IE,
it resets the keys to the incorrect values.
I've checked all of the keys in this article - 167124.
My screw up happened after a bunch of adware crap got
loaded. After I cleaned it up, I noticed that my
favorites were unmapped. Never had/don't have the Netsky
virus.