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I recently installed an application on my Windows 7 desktop. After the install this application created a strange icon on my desktop which cannot be removed/deleted or renamed. I find this quite intrusive and I keep wondering if this is a normal/legal case... Is an application allowed to do this? I don't remember having an option to allow this "Chuck Norris" icon on my desktop.

Any information on this will be highly appreciated.

Edit: What this icon does is when you drag over a file it applies some "deep removal" of it. It's context menu is limited to "Open" (which does nothing) and "Create shortcut"

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  • I think I ran into a situation where I couldn't delete an icon from my desktop. I believe the problem was that the application itself wasn't actually there. Oct 15, 2012 at 14:42
  • Also, what happens when you try to delete it? Oct 15, 2012 at 14:43
  • Nothing happens. Also the context menu is limited to "Open" (which does nothing) and "Create shortcut" Oct 15, 2012 at 14:44
  • single click on it and press the delete key Oct 15, 2012 at 14:48
  • Really? I really know how to delete a file :) Oct 15, 2012 at 14:59

2 Answers 2

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That is not normal behavior for legitimate applications. Have you considered that it might be malware or a Trojan? if you can't uninstall it from the Programs and Features dialog or a simple delete of the file then I would definitely be suspecting malware.

If the application is just a shredder/secure deleter then I see no reason why it should stop itself from being deleted.

An option is to boot into Safe Mode and try to delete it from there.

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  • It is not malware; my (big) company has a policy to have this application installed. Basically it is a shredder, yeah :) Oct 16, 2012 at 7:42
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The application registered a shell extension in order to display the icon. You can remove the extension using the Autoruns tool from sysinternals.

If nothing is suspicious, check out this article. Essentially, delete suspicious keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace in registry.

More related questions: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Deskto+NameSpace+site%3Asuperuser.com

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  • I'm sure there are ways to delete the icon, but I'm not interested in those. My original question is if this is legal/normal Oct 16, 2012 at 7:43
  • No legal questions on superuser I think.
    – billc.cn
    Oct 16, 2012 at 13:04

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