What are these brown box icons in left bottom corner of my files??

Anonymous
2022-03-07T21:29:56+00:00

Does anyone know where these small brown box icons came from and what they mean?? I suddenly have these little brown icons (looks like a small file box) on most of my files, Word, pdf, photos, etc. I've googled the daylights out of this and apparently lots of folks have the same question but no one has an answer. I hasn't affected my ability to open files but it's really annoying! (see pic below) Does it have something to do with my upgrade to Windows 11?

Thanks!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2022-04-23T00:35:08+00:00

Had this exact same issue today. The resolution was quick no reinstall. I'm on Win11, so perhaps that was a plus in this scenario. Here's the fix that worked for me:

  1. Open windows explorer <windows-key + e>
  2. If you're using OneDrive you should see something like "OneDrive - Personal" within the left-hand pane. If so, Right-Click to access the context-menu.
  3. You should see the menu-item: "Always keep on this device", select this.
  4. Recheck your desktop; no more brown boxes, yay!

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-10-19T04:19:05+00:00

    Window 11 with their lastest huge update changed everything around . The start up apps aren't even in the task menu. They move them. Smh

    I found them but it drives you nuts when you see no practical reason to move them when they've been there on the last several versions of windows.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-10-19T04:42:25+00:00

    No it didn't work but by luck I also have Google photos on my PC. Many were already were at backed up there thanks to Google.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-10-19T04:50:14+00:00

    They also just cane out with a brand new major update to Windows 11 to confuse you more by putting stuff in different places where it's normally been. I also found my computer more sluggish csince I down loaded it like a dummy. Something like D22'update. Take my advice. Don't download it

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-10-20T13:36:56+00:00

    Hi, I had the same problem with all my icons on the desktop (Windows 11). The solution was to update microsoft one drive and all the little boxes disappeared

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