Recovering desktop icon

[rhino]

How do I recover a desktop icon for a program in XP?

My mother has only the most basic of computer skills so I spent a bit of
time with her yesterday trying to show her how to launch a program. I had
her move the mouse onto an icon that starts a PPPoE dialer on my brother's
computer and then double-click on it. Since she is still very awkward with
the mouse, she moved the icon as she clicked on it. It happened very quickly
but I _think_ she dragged and dropped the dialer icon onto the icon below
it; the lower icon simply disappeared.

My theory is that she didn't delete the other program, just the icon for the
program. But neither of us knew which program it was, since we hadn't looked
very closely at the text under the nearby icons.

So how do we get that icon back? I know the worst-case scenario is that we
simply reinstall the program - once we figure out which one it is! - but
does Windows give me a simpler way to get back that one icon?

I've never made that particular mistake before so I've never had to figure
this out before. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what to do.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

How do I recover a desktop icon for a program in XP?

My mother has only the most basic of computer skills so I spent a bit of
time with her yesterday trying to show her how to launch a program. I had
her move the mouse onto an icon that starts a PPPoE dialer on my brother's
computer and then double-click on it. Since she is still very awkward with
the mouse, she moved the icon as she clicked on it. It happened very
quickly but I _think_ she dragged and dropped the dialer icon onto the
icon below it; the lower icon simply disappeared.

My theory is that she didn't delete the other program, just the icon for
the program. But neither of us knew which program it was, since we hadn't
looked very closely at the text under the nearby icons.

So how do we get that icon back? I know the worst-case scenario is that we
simply reinstall the program - once we figure out which one it is! - but
does Windows give me a simpler way to get back that one icon?

I've never made that particular mistake before so I've never had to figure
this out before. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what to do.

The icon might be hiding underneath the other icon. Drag
it to the side to find out.

If she deleted it then you can easily recreate it for her.
Click Start / Settings / Control Panel, then click Network
connections and drag the PPPoE dialler back to the desktop.

 

[witan]

How do I recover a desktop icon for a program in XP?

My mother has only the most basic of computer skills so I spent a bit of
time with her yesterday trying to show her how to launch a program. I had
her move the mouse onto an icon that starts a PPPoE dialer on my brother's
computer and then double-click on it. Since she is still very awkward with
the mouse, she moved the icon as she clicked on it. It happened very quickly
but I _think_ she dragged and dropped the dialer icon onto the icon below
it; the lower icon simply disappeared.

My theory is that she didn't delete the other program, just the icon for the
program. But neither of us knew which program it was, since we hadn't looked
very closely at the text under the nearby icons.

So how do we get that icon back? I know the worst-case scenario is that we
simply reinstall the program - once we figure out which one it is! - but
does Windows give me a simpler way to get back that one icon?

I've never made that particular mistake before so I've never had to figure
this out before. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what to do.

Pegasus has suggested that "The icon might be hiding underneath the
other icon." If so,
right-click on the desktop > Arrange Icons by > Auto arrange
should bring it back into view.

 

[Elmo]

How do I recover a desktop icon for a program in XP?

My mother has only the most basic of computer skills so I spent a bit of
time with her yesterday trying to show her how to launch a program. I had
her move the mouse onto an icon that starts a PPPoE dialer on my brother's
computer and then double-click on it. Since she is still very awkward with
the mouse, she moved the icon as she clicked on it. It happened very quickly
but I _think_ she dragged and dropped the dialer icon onto the icon below
it; the lower icon simply disappeared.

My theory is that she didn't delete the other program, just the icon for the
program. But neither of us knew which program it was, since we hadn't looked
very closely at the text under the nearby icons.

So how do we get that icon back? I know the worst-case scenario is that we
simply reinstall the program - once we figure out which one it is! - but
does Windows give me a simpler way to get back that one icon?

I've never made that particular mistake before so I've never had to figure
this out before. I'm hoping someone here can tell me what to do.

You could have used Ctrl/Z immediately afterwards to restore the "move".

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Rhino

This is where System Restore comes in handy.

Use this component to go back to a time just prior to losing the shortcut.