Desktop Icons refresh very slowly

I would Make sure you dont have malware lurking somewhere. The I would use ccleaner and clean the system very well.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

If you have files on your desktop you may be scanning with anti-virus. If you are on a domain you may be syncing up with the Users share.

Are you using an Active webpage background ?  Those backgrounds tend to refresh alot.  Use a plain background colour or picture

I haven't tried CCleaner, but I regularly run 12Ghosts Wash and occasionally RegistryBooster 2.0 and do the Registry Defrag as well.

I haven't added any new files on my desktop, plus I am using both Avast and MalwareBytes and neither reported anything after running scans.  I've disabled both Avast and MalwareBytes and still have the long delay in refreshing all icons so I don't think that's the problem.

I use only a plain background color for my background.

I suppose I can try CCleaner.  Any other suggestions?

Check the system event log.  You may be getting disk errors or something like that.

Another thing that you can do is run Combo Fix. But I would also Try #121 on the left: "Increase Icon Cache" at http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Are any of these files shortcuts from networks paths? that could also cause the a performance loss to display. I don't it won't sound so pleasent, but you as a good way to maintain that, organize your icons in folders. A good idea is to put these folders on your Taskbar, so you can access the files at any time and they won't be spread out on your desktop:

Right click on your taskbar > Toolbars > Create New Toolbar

make a new folder (can be on your desktop) and put the files/shortcuts there.

Tried CCLeaner and kellys-korner thing to no avail.  No issues in System Event log concerning harddrive errors.  Would like to get it to refresh as I have a lot of icons that I'd hate to bury in folders.

Uninstalling and re-installing Avast software cleared up the desktop refresh problem.  No idea why.