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?

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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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-07-23T14:45:28+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.

    This temporarily resolved the issue for me. I also only use WD as do you.

    Any suggestions?

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-08-03T15:31:01+00:00

    I didn't have Norton installed. So I found my own solution.

    I use Windows Defender. So I opened it, went to Settings, then disabled Cloud-based protection. Then I went desktop and refresh, Voala!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-10T15:51:07+00:00

    I don't use Norton 360 and I have the same problem. I do use Norton Security, so I asked them about the problem. They replied:

    This is not caused by Norton (Norton backup overlays are white check marks in a green square on the lower left part of the icon).  What you are seeing are possibly related to Microsoft OneDrive or some other program.

    So back to Microsoft. What about OneDrive?

    FYI: Much less frequently a different symbol replaces the shortcut arrows on the icons. Once they were all replaced with red Xs. When I looked at them, they suddenly changed back to shortcut arrows.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-10-13T19:34:32+00:00

    Same effect to me just refreshing the desktop, so defender may not be the problem (not sure).

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