Windows Vista has many inbuilt themes and color schemes in it. we can apply any theme on it or we can create are own color schemes and themes for it. There are few themes which are already in Windows Vista but are hidden and if we want we can access them and apply them on our Windows Vista computer. But at times it happens that even after applying a new theme or new set of icons they do not change on the desktop. We restart the computer but still the same old sets of icons are displayed and new ones of our choice do not get applied. Why does this happen? The reason behind this is a system file which is used for keeping a track of icons which have to be displayed. It could be because of some security or anti-virus software which does not allow the new values to be written in to this file. This file is called as IconCache.db and is located in the user profile folder of every user. Because every user can have themes and icons of his or her choice so every user has his own IconCache.db file and is located in Local folder inside the AppData folder. Given below are steps to force the rebuilding of this cache file so that your new set of icons are displayed when you change them.
Before we force the rebuilding of this icon cache file let us change the icons or let us restore them to default.
To change the icons open the Control Panel and then go to Personalization. When the personalization window comes up click on the link “Change Desktop Icons” in the left pane and it will give you the Desktop Icon Settings window. Here in this window if you want to change the icons then click on the Change Icon button and browse to the icon of your choice and apply it, or if you want to restore the icons depending upon the current theme then just click on the button Restore Default and then apply it. Since we are discussing of a problem in which new changes does not get reflected on the desktop so even after applying the changes you would not be able to see the changes on the desktop. Now please close all the Windows and return to the desktop.
Open Computer Window from the Start Menu and when this Window comes up click on Organise button and then on Folder and Search options. When you get the Folder Options Window click on the Second Tab which is View. In the View tab under the Advanced settings box check the radio button which is “Show hidden files and folders” and also uncheck the check box which is “Hide protected operating system files (recommended)”. After doing this close the Folder options window by clicking on OK. Now in Computer Window open the C Drive, then the Users folder. In User folder open your profile folder and then open the folder named AppData. In AppData open the folder named Local. In the Local folder look for the file called IconCache.DB. This is the file in concern and once you find this file permanently delete it by pressing shift when you delete. After deleting this file close all the windows and just restart your computer. After restarting you will see that all your icon changes have got applied.
This ways we can forcibly apply the changes in case the regular interface is not able to do the same.
