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From: Jim Hawkins on 3 Mar 2010 11:03
When I turned on my PC (Win XP SP3) this morning all my desktop icons had
gone.
I can start programs by going to Start/All programs/.. finding the one I
want and clicking on it,
but that's a pain.
How do I get the icons back ? What caused them to disappear ?

Jim Hawkins


From: Don Phillipson on 3 Mar 2010 11:25
"Jim Hawkins" <jimhawkins(a)manx.net> wrote in message
news:egX2NsuuKHA.4464(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> When I turned on my PC (Win XP SP3) this morning all my desktop icons had
> gone.
> I can start programs by going to Start/All programs/.. finding the one I
> want and clicking on it,
> but that's a pain.
> How do I get the icons back ? What caused them to disappear ?

Omitted here are:
1. your AV and malware practice. (This effect may be malware.)
2. whether you have System Restore configured. This allows us
to reboot with the registry (hive) known good on a prior date. This
is often the fastest way to recover from an unwanted surprise.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)



From: Jim Hawkins on 3 Mar 2010 17:20
Thanks Don,

AV is Norton 360. Scan shows nothing nasty.
Browser is IE6. I don't know anything about System Restore.

Jim Hawkins



"Don Phillipson" <e925(a)SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
news:%23BB6iDvuKHA.5008(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> "Jim Hawkins" <jimhawkins(a)manx.net> wrote in message
> news:egX2NsuuKHA.4464(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
>> When I turned on my PC (Win XP SP3) this morning all my desktop icons had
>> gone.
>> I can start programs by going to Start/All programs/.. finding the one I
>> want and clicking on it,
>> but that's a pain.
>> How do I get the icons back ? What caused them to disappear ?
>
> Omitted here are:
> 1. your AV and malware practice. (This effect may be malware.)
> 2. whether you have System Restore configured. This allows us
> to reboot with the registry (hive) known good on a prior date. This
> is often the fastest way to recover from an unwanted surprise.
> --
> Don Phillipson
> Carlsbad Springs
> (Ottawa, Canada)
>
>
>


From: VanguardLH on 3 Mar 2010 18:16
Jim Hawkins wrote:

> When I turned on my PC (Win XP SP3) this morning all my desktop icons had
> gone. I can start programs by going to Start/All programs/.. finding the
> one I want and clicking on it, but that's a pain. How do I get the icons
> back ? What caused them to disappear ?

Right-click on the desktop. Under Arrange, check if Show Desktop Icons is
enabled or not.

As to what caused them to disappear, that could be malware, security
software, tweaking programs, or the user (especially if the computer is not
physically secured and/or you aren't the only one allowed on the computer).
From: Jose on 3 Mar 2010 18:17
On Mar 3, 11:03 am, "Jim Hawkins" <jimhawk...(a)manx.net> wrote:
> When I turned on my PC (Win XP SP3) this morning all my desktop icons had
> gone.
> I can start programs by going to Start/All programs/.. finding the one I
> want and clicking on it,
> but that's a pain.
> How do I get the icons back ?  What caused them to disappear ?
>
> Jim Hawkins

Right click an open area of your Desktop, Arrange Icons By... Show
Desktop Icons needs to be checked.

If you did not change it on purpose or by accident, perhaps something
changed it to annoy you.

Perform some scans for malicious software, then fix any remaining
issues:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.
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