On your Windows 7 PC, shortcuts that you create on the desktop may be missing. Please post back your results for further assistance. Windows 7 Desktop Icon Links Disappear Because the desktop keeps losing my links, I have created a folder on my USB Hard Disk that contains my desktop links, so I can refresh them faster once they go missing (copy them to my desktop). When using Windows, under certain circumstances the Windows Desktop will not be shown. To stop Windows 7 from automatically removing desktop shortcuts you will need to disable the ‘Computer Maintenance’ feature. There are two irritating problems. If it seems like the desktop shortcuts on your Windows 7 keep disappearing, you're not hallucinating. Was this reply helpful? Whichever version of Windows you’re using, the “Desktop Icon Settings” window that opens next looks the same. I see this mostly for network shortcuts when a laptop has been off of the network. It’s INFRARECORDER !! Here's why and how to prevent this from happening to you. I have bought a new laptop with Windows 7 Professional & Office 2007 suite installed. How satisfied are you with this reply? Missing Icons or Shortcuts on the Desktop or Taskbar in Windows Vista or Windows 7 As of April 11, 2017, Windows Vista customers are no longer receiving new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft. Try for yourselves, when you start Infrarecorder and close it again, go have a look at “Show desktop icons”, it is unchecked (but the icons are still there). I found the cause of the misteriously disappearing Windows 7 desktop icons and the reason why Show desktop icons now and then gets unchecked. Can this be turned off or is it maybe a glitch of some kind? The System Maintenance troubleshooter performs a weekly maintenance of the operating system. The system will see that there is not connectivity for the shortcut and delete it because it thinks its a dead shortcut. Windows 7 introduces the System Maintenance troubleshooter which will check for “broken” shortcuts and if it finds more than 4 it will delete them. This is a "feature" of the Windows 7 desktop cleanup option. This can happen if the the System Maintenance troubleshooter detects the shortcuts as broken. How to disable the ‘Computer Maintenance’ feature in Windows 7: Click on the Windows Start menu and then click ‘Control Panel’ Under ‘System and Security’, click ‘Find and fix problems’ Yes No. This can happen if the the System Maintenance troubleshooter detects the shortcuts as broken. Sorry this didn't help. Original title: Windows 7 & Office oddities. On your Windows 7 PC, shortcuts that you create on the desktop may be missing. Windows 7 automatically deletes broken and network shortcuts if … Desktop shortcuts disappear in Windows 7 posted 21 Nov 2013, 06:13 by Colum Brady Summary. Desktop Shortcuts disappear. All my desktop icons disappeared from my Windows 7 desktop. Great! At the upper left of the window, click the “Change desktop icons” link. Are you running Windows 7 and noticing that some of the shortcuts that you place on your desktop keep disappearing? Thanks for your feedback. I am using Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit version, and after rebooting, many of my desktop shortcuts that I created have disappeared. Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. (1) I put shortcuts to documents/folders on the desktop, but as soon as I power off or restart the laptop, these shortcuts disappear. If you’re using Windows 7 or 8, clicking “Personalize” opens the Personalization Control Panel screen.