most icons switched to MS word logo, and would no longer load

[jattas1]

This computer an HP Pavilian laptop, suddenly failed, and shut down the system. When reloaded, all the desktop icons, except for perhaps 15% of them changed over to MS Word ( W ) logo's and none of those shortcuts will load. Seems like attributes or properties changed. Just won't load under these circumstances. Attachments in outlook mail, will not bring up word loco. Seems like shortcuts, or file types are messed up.

[techsheaven]

This is a file association issue. File associations are determined by the extension which is hidden by default. If jus one file type was the issue, I would say to re-associate the one file. Since there are many, I would say to uninstall Word so they will revert to their last association. Then re-install Word. If you do not have the disks to do that, you could set each individually... but you may be finding problems for months.

It may help to start by showing the file extensions; it may just be a few.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Show-or-hide-file-name-extensions

[jattas1]

Thanks for the information you submitted. This is a real bag of worms. I did uninstall WORD, and it worked. All the Icons magically returned to their correct graphic. So I reinstalled word, and the icons stayed correct. However the next day on a reboot, it now changed most of the icons to the "IE" icon (internet Explorer), and now I am stymied! If I uninstall IE, I believe that will cause some serious complications. A new hint: About 80% of the icons changed to the errant image. ALMOST EVERYWHERE!
They did not change in the MyComputer/C Drive folders under programs. They did change in:desktop, my programs, and documents. Any further ideas, before I burn this Vista nightmare?

[techsheaven]

Do you have kids? Other users have access to your computer? If not, I am thinking you may have some malware running on your system. If your hard drive were failing, I would expect to see more issues than just changing file associations.

I would say to download and run Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware, then Hijack This ... post th Hijack This logs

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol

http://download.cnet.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html

Good Luck