Desktop Icons have little locks on them

[joddle]

Today when I came to use on of my W7 machines I noticed most of the desktop icons have little locks on them - no idea where they came form or why they are there. but woud like to get rid of them. None of my other W7 machnes on the same workgroup seem to be affected. All the icons seem to work OK ie the correct software load sup when I click them.

 

Where do these little locks come from? and what do I do to get rid of them again???

[Plastic Nev]

Hi joddle, from what I can discover the locks are a symbol that they can only be accessed by the administrator, any other user cannot. This is part of the Windows privacy, security, and sharing.

You do need to be logged on as administrator to do this.

Right click on one of the icons showing the lock, then select properties.

In the properties window select the security tab.

 

Next is go to one of the Windows 7 machines that does not have the lock symbols and do the same, check what differences there are as in what is ticked and what is not for "Allow"

You can then click "edit" which will allow you to change the system in question to match the other.

If possible and struggling to see what to do next can you post some screen shots of what you see in both those windows please.

 

Nev.