Ask Owen

After changing some options to do with my desktop theme I have lost the My Computer and Control Panel icons from the Desktop. How can I get them back?

Getting them back is relatively easy. Left-click on the Start button and then right-click on the icon that is missing from the Desktop. Left-click on the option ‘Show on Desktop’ in the menu that appears.

This process can also be used to remove the icons from the desktop. When you left-click on the “Show on Desktop” option, if it’s showing on the desktop it will have a tick by it. If you click again, the icon will be removed (and the tick with it). Adding and removing icons to the top left part of the Start Menu is also similar. Right-click on a program icon and select ‘Pin to the Start Menu’ will add it to the list. Once it’s there, you’ll have a similar option called “Unpin from Start Menu’; this will remove it.

Just keep in mind that the icon can also be changed, so it might already be there even if it’s not obvious. I knew someone for example, who used an icon of some spring plungers instead of his Recycle Bin, so sometimes it’s not blindingly obvious what icon does what.

Related Questions

• How do add a Run command to my Start menu?
  I used to use Windows XP, and one item on the Start menu which I used extensively was the Run command. I've since upgraded to Windows 7 and alas, this does not appear on my Start menu. Is there any wa...
• Where’s my DVD drive gone?
  I turned on my computer a few days ago and realised that my D: drive didn't appear in Explorer any more. Is my computer damaged? There's a bug in Windows that causes this to happen at times. There ...
• How do I change the letter of a disk?
  For some reason, the Drive F: on my computer is suddenly called Drive G:. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I want to change it back as I have a number of batch files that aren't working now. Wh...