Icons only work with right click

My computer just recovered from PSU failure. Now I click on the desktop icons and nothing happens - no hour glass no starting of programs. The Icon dims. I have made new icons and the same thing happens to the new ones. The icons on any active window do not work either. The only way I can get ontrol panel to open is to switch to category view. The classic view icons do not work. Programs do open from the start menu Cannot open c: drive from MY Computer Everything does work from windows exporer. Any ideas?

Sounds like links are not working. Try the LNK fix from the Doug Knox web site:

Windows® XP File Association Fixes

Get the LNK (Shortcut) File Association Fix (Restores Default Shortcut Behavior). Directions for use are at the top of the page.