Tom,

I agree that we can't blame the university network for this 
one.  Maybe you should look for things that modify the icons in your 
Start Menu, although I can't think of anything that does, or even 
imagine why anyone would ever want to modify those icons.  I still 
suspect that the system may be doing some kind of scheduled 
restore.  I think there may be a log that shows those, although I 
don't remember where it is or what it's called.  You might look at 
the event logs, which you can find under Administrative 
Tools.  Examining them might give you a few hints.

Steve

On Saturday 9/30/06 15:32 T Behler wrote:
>     Steve:
>
>The office PC is on my University's network, and the home P
>C and laptop are on our home network system. ... The fact that this happened
>to the laptop on the home network indicates that the University network is
>probably not the culprit.  But, we do use Norton systems software from the
>University, so I think something might be turned on in there that could be
>causing the problem.
>
>As for desktop icons, I may be strange, but I don't use the desktop to get
>to things, although my sighted wife does.  I get to the programs I need
>through the start menu, and then set up my shortcut keys accordingly.
>
>At any rate, you're giving me more to think about here, and I really do
>appreciate it.
>
>73 from Tom Behler: Kb8TYJ
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 11:28 PM
>Subject: Re: off topic: shortcut hot keys occasionally disappearing
>
>
> > Tom,
> >
> > Is this machine on a network?  Also, check Scheduled Tasks to see if
> > something runs automatically that you don't know about.  Also, you
> > might go to your desktop folder in either Windows Explorer or My
> > Computer and check the icons whose hotkeys have disappeared to see
> > when they were last modified.  Better still, fix one of them, make a
> > note of when you did it, and check the date the next time you notice
> > that key vanishing.  None of this will give you the complete answer,
> > but you'll be collecting pieces of the puzzle.
> >
> > Steve