Restore lost desktop shortcuts in Windows XP

When you install Windows XP for the first time – or perform a clean reinstallation from scratch – you usually get a bunch of default icons on your desktop, namely My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, Internet Explorer and the Recycle Bin. These are special system shortcuts, different from standard desktop shortcuts, and have their own tweaking options to hide them or bring them back in case they’re lost.

If you want to recover those lost system icons, right click anywhere on the desktop to open the Display Properties window, select the Desktop tab and click the Customize Desktop button. This will open the Desktop Items window, where you can see a box containing all these special system icons, and small checkboxes to enable or disable them. Now simply select which icons should be displayed and which ones should be kept hidden, or hit the Restore Default button to go back to the standard configuration.

Incidentally, the Desktop Items window also lets you change the icon in these special system shortcuts. It’s as easy as selecting the icon you want to customize, click Change Icon and select a new one.