Green check marks on desktop icons

Anonymous
2009-11-10T23:14:51+00:00

Suddenly all my desktop icons have green check marks on them.  What does it mean?  How do I fix them?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2011-02-14T02:55:52+00:00

Suddenly all my desktop icons have green check marks on them.  What does it mean?  How do I fix them?

Hi,

Do you use norton 360? Norton -> Settings -> Backup Settings -> Backup Status Overlays -> OFF -> Apply.  After you run your next backup (you can do it manually) the check marks will disappear.

Hope this helps.

Was this answer helpful?

200+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

210 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2017-12-24T19:22:55+00:00

    Thank You Q-U-I-G-M-O

    I had the same issue with the windows updates that failed serval time.  I was able to do a role back 2 times but on the last update Microsoft put through my computer crashed and I could not role back any more. I also did a clean install of Windows 10, and that's when I noticed the queen checkmarks.  I turn off the sharing and backup to the one drive, (I also was given the choice during install) and all the queen checkmarks are gone.

    thank you again

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-12-16T10:25:18+00:00

    I found that this problem related to OneDrive.  The green tick seems to denote items that are synchronized across computers.  I made the green ticks disappear by right clicking the white OneDrive icon on my taskbar, selecting Settings, going to the Auto-save tab, and then telling OneDrive to save Desktop to "This PC Only".  That removed all icons with green ticks.  Changing the setting back to "OneDrive" reinstates them.

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-09T04:27:03+00:00

    I had this problem. I don't use Norton (right now Windows Defender is my main antivirus).

    Here's the way I solved the problem was to right click on an empty place on the desktop, then click on Refresh. That made them all go away.

    It only seemed to affect the desktop shortcuts, nothing else. Any folders or files I had on the desktop appeared as normal.

    Worked perfectly. Very simple. Thanx!!!

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-11T23:20:17+00:00

    All you have to do is right click on the desk top somewhere on nothing, and left click on refresh in the new window

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments