Rick's Daily Tips

Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!

  • Home
  • Rick’s Bio
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Rick’s Tip Jar
  • Get My Tech Tips Newsletter
  • Recommended Tech Gear
  • Contact Me
You are here: Home / Tech Questions & Answers / Q&A: What happened to the icons and shortcuts on my Desktop?

Q&A: What happened to the icons and shortcuts on my Desktop?

Posted on May 27, 2013

windows-7Question from Ken B.:  Rick, I turned my computer on this morning (Dell XPS 15 laptop w/Windows 7) and my desktop was blank. After it booted up everything on the desktop was missing, including the Recycle Bin, the Computer icon and all of my shortcuts. I don’t know what happened to make then disappear, but I desperately need them back ASAP.

Can you please tell me how to get all of my desktop icons and shortcuts back without reinstalling everything? I’ll be indebted to you for life my friend! Thanks in advance for you help.

Rick’s answer:  Ken, Microsoft Windows is like the weather. Storm clouds (i.e. missing icons and shortcuts) can appear out of nowhere at any time, and usually when it’s least convenient. But poor metaphors aside, this happens to be a very easy problem to fix.

To restore the icons and shortcuts to your Desktop, do this:

1 – Right-click on the Desktop.

2 – Click View>Show desktop icons.

All of the missing items should now be back in their rightful place on your Desktop.

Update from Ken:  Thanks so much Rick! That worked like a charm, and it was so simple. You’re a lifesaver my friend.


Do you have a tech question of your own for Rick? Click here and send it in!






Popular…

How do I ask you a tech question?

Step-by-step guide to completely ridding your PC of viruses and other malware

10 reasons why I recommend buying tech gear from Amazon

How to upscale video – Top 4 AI video enhancers in 2023


Advertise

Guest Post Guidelines

Want to ask me a tech question?

Handy Tech Resources

Privacy Policy

Computer Tips
Smartphone Tips
Blogging Tips

Tech Q & A
Reviews
Tech News

Write for RicksDailyTips.com

Scam alerts
Downloads

Copyright © 2025 RicksDailyTips.com

Affiliate Disclaimer


Rick's Daily Tips is hosted by InMotion Hosting. Click here to find out why.