Some desktop icons disappeared

[robert808]

After last Win 7 update some of the icons on user 2's desktop disappeared. User 1 was not affected. User 2 says it happened once before. I think they were MS Office files or shortcuts to files. What would cause this? User 2 said she previously found them elsewhere, maybe in Documents folder. Also her default IE Browser home page was changed from Yahoo to MSN. User 1 did not change.

Unrelated but I noticed that the last update installed

Security Update for Microsoft Publisher 2010 (KB4011186) 32-Bit Edition
Installation date: ‎6/‎14/‎2018 3:02 AM
Installation status: Successful
Update type: Important
A security vulnerability exists in Microsoft Publisher 2010 32-Bit Edition that could allow arbitrary code to run when a maliciously modified file is opened. This update resolves that vulnerability.

I have MS Office 10 Home and Business without Publisher. Why did I get the update?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi robert808,

Here is a post from MS: Icons disappear from the Windows 7 desktop
Here is a post from Online Tech Tips: Desktop Icons Missing or Disappeared

You could try running Malwarebytes!
Could you not just uninstall the relevant Windows Update from the user affected?

I hope this helps!

 

[robert808]

Thank you for your post. The Show desktop icons was already checked. The second link info doesn't sound really relevant or can get more technical than I feel comfortable with. Although the computer was restarted after the last Windows update perhaps another restart might help. I doubt it but will try that.

As to "uninstall the relevant Windows Update from the user affected", isn't the monthly update applicable to the system itself and not individual users? And the Publisher update doesn't sound like could be relevant to the problem; user 1 was not affected.

Another Windows mystery. Thanks again for your advice.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi robert808,

As to "uninstall the relevant Windows Update from the user affected", isn't the monthly update applicable to the system itself and not individual users?

Appologies, I misunderstood you. I thought that the users related to different machines .