I often get this problem after a restart and sometimes when I'm on the
computer for a while (especially after my nieces visit Disney.com). There
are 2 things to try, if usually works for me.
1. Restart your computer
2. As it's booting up, continually press the F11 key.
3. You should see the icons once you're logged back on. If not,
4. Press and release the "Source Set" (or similar) button on your monitor
(I have a gateway model). This should restore your icons after pressing and
releasing once. If not, keep trying 2 or 3 times until the icons pop up.
5. Last resort is to system restore to an earlier time by restarting
("Ctrl-Alt-Delete Restart) -- there's a way to access this without the START
button, but I forgot.
Because it's often a crap shoot regarding missing desktop icons, I just log
off once or twice a week. I just turn the monitor on whenever I want to use
the computer and I don't have to wait the 2 minutes or so it takes to log on.
Note: Never ever use slide shows, because they do cause video problems
(missing icons and start buttons, as well as the Windows Media Player to
disappear from the screen when you open the program.
