This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Recently a client discover that all of their desktop icons (files and shortcuts) have large Grey X's in the corner on their Windows 8.1 home PC. The files are still accessible upon click through to them. They do not have a tape drive (one possible cause I have seen) and the shortcuts point to various locations on the primary C: drive (documents folder etc). Repairing the icon cache temporarily resolved but it seems to just come back again. They are running Carbonite as a backup, however a brief search of "Carbonite with Grey X's on icons" has not yet yielded anything either. Any help would be welcomed.
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.
I experienced the problem for the first time ever this morning in one of my laptops After tracking what I did this morning that might had caused it, I finally remembered to have installed an update for Boxcryptor. After uninstalling the Boxcryptor app, the grey X's disappeared from all those folder its was on. Bingo! Hope it helps!
Microsoft can't fix what some other company draws onto your icons, sorry. Contact the company that put it there.
I'm not sure if you read my entire post. I did NOT use any of the three "outside" SW or services mentioned.
Microsoft can't fix what some other company draws onto your icons, sorry. Contact the company that put it there.
Yes, I've been saying it was Norton since this conversation began in June, but very few people believe me, even when I posted a direct link to the Norton support site that explains what they are, how to use them, and even gives a picture example. Some people just don't believe the truth :)
Glad you got it sorted!
I'm running neither Carbonite nor Norton nor dropbox. I still has this problem. MSFT should resolve this issue not letting everyone wonder what's happening.
Yes, I've been saying it was Norton since this conversation began in June, but very few people believe me, even when I posted a direct link to the Norton support site that explains what they are, how to use them, and even gives a picture example. Some people just don't believe the truth :)
Glad you got it sorted!
