Icons in IE7

**Votan** · July 3rd, 2007, 08:24 PM

I installed IE7. I noticed that I get one favicon.ico for every website I visit. They are sticky. I have to remove them manually by opening the temporary internet files folder. What these icons are for?

I also lost quite a number of shortcut icon on my desktop. Some of those are replaced by the little arrow at the corner of the icon and nothing else. Some others were replaced by Windows generic icon. No matter how many times I reset the icons using the property of the shortcut, they are removed again as soon as I go online. Any fix for that?

The back-forward buttons, the favorites buttons, and the URL field are fixed unmovable. Is this a feature of IE7 or I am missing where I could reorganize them to my preference?

Because of these reasons I might abandon IE7 and go Firefox. Anybody has a history with Firefox? Would this be a better idea?

**geoscomp** · July 3rd, 2007, 10:10 PM

favicon icons are set by the website and have been around for quite some time..they are not an IE7 feature..why would you want to remove them? they will just be recreated next time you visit a site that isn't cached on your computer. I don't know which shortcuts you are talking about, so I can't comment on that, but if you want to move the bars around in IE7, just go to tools/toolbars, and uncheck the lock the toolbars line. The address bar/back-forward bar/and search are the top line in IE7 and can't be moved, but are appropriate for their function..the address is to the right of back/forward, search is to the right of the address bar...all address items are in one bar..everything else can be moved around

**NooNoo** · July 4th, 2007, 01:39 PM

Desktop icons depend on what put the icon there... can you post which icons for which programs you have a problem with?

**Votan** · July 4th, 2007, 03:01 PM

The following icons reverse back to how they look in the picture icons.jpg:

Weather Channel

Free Games

Raphael's Fresco

Earthlink Webmail

**NooNoo** · July 4th, 2007, 03:16 PM

So it's just those? No other icons? Have you tried creating new shortcuts rather than altering the existing ones?

**Votan** · July 4th, 2007, 04:37 PM

This one too and a couple of two others were shortcuts to music stations I deleted them I was not using them anyway.

Yes I tried to creat new shortcuts, the same problem.

I just noticed that the icons in the Favorits also were chaged and I tried to create new ones, the same problem there too.

**NooNoo** · July 5th, 2007, 02:21 AM

So these shortcuts are directly to urls rather than a program file on the hard drive?

**Votan** · July 5th, 2007, 05:38 AM

Yes. Files and folders shortcuts are preserved.

Since my first post, I tested other URL shortcuts. Well, to my surprise, all of them show the same syndrom. It looks to me it is IE7 feature, at least on my computer!

**NooNoo** · July 5th, 2007, 06:20 AM

And where are the icon files you wish to use kept?

**Votan** · July 5th, 2007, 07:07 AM

pifmgr.dll, moreicons.dll, and other I collected and stored in icons folders in the root directory.

**NooNoo** · July 5th, 2007, 08:26 AM

I wonder if it's something to do with favicons trying to associate with the shortcut... you then delete the favicons and you end up with a blank image.

**Votan** · July 5th, 2007, 10:04 AM

I deleted them from the temporary internet files forlder several times, nothing has changed on the desktop. When I delete them and then I change the icon, the new icon remains there until I go to the website of the icon.

**NooNoo** · July 5th, 2007, 10:29 AM

So the icons remain in place until you visit the site, then the shortcut icon changes. This is (I think) because the writers of the HTML page have put in a line

Code:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />

which forces your browser (not just IE) to recognise the favicon. Since the shortcut is actually a bookmark, it will try to put the favicon in... you go round deleting them, so they end up blank.... if you leave the favicons alone for a while, you should see the shortcut change when you visit to the favicon.