i have a compaq presario pc with windows XP home  SP3,  IE8 and mozilla firefox and cable modem.   i have my desktop display set for windows classic style and 2-3 times a week while the machine is shut down, the screen changes to windows XP style and my desktop icons are scrambled and SOMETIMES even made larger.   i've clicked on the desktop> properties> appearance> windows classic> apply> ok.    then under advanced appearance clicked item "desktop" and the color i wanted.   i also found a place in there where i could lock web items on desktop which i've done and it seems not to make any difference at all.     what can you suggest for me?I would like to see input from other members re this observation. As to whether it could be a contributing factor to the O/P's issue. Would it make any difference if the changes the O/P made (that are randomly changing) if the changes were made from a "user" profile and not from an administrator?. truenorthThere is a Windows service running on start up which is Themes. Try toggling its startup type. Go to Run, type service.msc and hit enter. Look for Themes(which might be set to automatic) and double-click and change startup type to manual or disable. Hit Apply. If you have set your themes to classic, then try rebooting your computer and check the difference. hello.....i typed in service.msn and clicked ok.   the window said THAT couldn't be found.   i looked for a list of start-up programs and THEMES wasn't on it.   i did find a  themes tab on the desktop properties place, clicked classic  and got a sample of what i expect was a default screen in microsoft blue which i didn't want.    oh, well.   any other ideas?i typed in service.msc     not msn.     i lied about that. Quote

i typed in service.msc