PC Qs and As

There is a good chance the program is still on the hard drive and only the Icon or Program Group has been deleted.

Icons and Program Groups can be deleted with a single keystroke from the delete key. Other things like a program that locks up or a power outage that causes an unnatural exit can destroy or even corrupt Program Groups and Icons.

If you are working in Windows with multiple Applications running and have a power outage or someone accidentally hits the off switch you are almost assured some type of data loss.

If this happens to you all is not lost and the need for a complete install is usually not nessasary. The first thing you should do is see how bad the damage is.

One of the best ways is to run CHKDSK ( check disk ) from the DOS Prompt. CAUTION. Do not run this from the Windows environment. Actually you should run CHKDSK or some type of disk maintenanace about once a week.

If you find that your hard drive has crosslinked files after running CHKDSK you have two options. One is to run CHKDSK/F (fix) for those of you with DOS 6.0 and earlier. The other is to use SCANDISK, a newer program that will repair a larger variety of problems than its predocessor.

After CHKDSK or SCANDISK has repaired the hard drive the next step is to recreate the Icon or Program Group. To recreate the Program Group go to the menu bar in Windows under File, run the New program. Here you have two options Of these pick Program Group and press the OK button.

Here type in the name of the original Program Group in the box marked Decription then press OK. At this point the Program Group should have been recreated and open on the Desktop.

The next order of business is to recreate the Icons representing the programs. As before go to the menu bar on your Program Manager's Desktop.

Under File run the New program. This time pick Program Item and OK. In the Description box type in the original name of the program or whatever you want to call it. Now tap the Browse button and highlight the file of the original program and press OK.

Now tap the Change Icon button just to see if your original icon is there representing the program. Usually the Icons are embedded in the program files. But, if your original icon is not shown then you will have to locate it in the programs subdirectory.

It will have the destinction of an .ICO file ending. After replacing the original Icon press OK. Then press OK once more and the program should have been recreated on your desktop. Repeat this process until all programs are replaced.