Windows 10: desktop radically changed, with almost all original icons wiped out--how to prevent this again?

A few days ago, when I restarted my Dell desktop, suddenly things "started from scratch" so to speak. Originally I had a landscape picture in the background, and about 30 or more icons maybe too many-- but suddenly it was basic blue screen with windows logo, and almost all icons disappeared except for a few basics like McAfee icon. My desktop weather, date for my city was still there. but "generic"-- and then I got a WELCOME TO WINDOWS, ETC... There were at least a couple of icon/files in the old desktop were important to me, and so I was concerned--in the new "blue desktop" arrangement they were gone.. With a search, they were on C-desktop--the OLD desktop--and all intact in the menu So as an experiment--and it worked-- I could actually take a file and transfer it from "old desktop" to NEW "blue" desktop....


so, I populated --re-populated-- a few of the formerly missing icons back to the new blue desktop... all was well, and computer actually works FASTER than before-- but then-- a night ago-- there were some UPDATES automatically put in-- and once the updates were installed-- it was back to square one AGAIN.... WELOCOME TO WINDOWS etc...


in general, computer doing VERY well.... but I'd like to stop these strange "recycles"


Thanks

:)

 

Cannot change desktop icon

Sometimes a desktop icon changes from what it was to a plain white folder. Might be something I did but not sure what.

To change it to the icon I want, I go:

1. Rt-click icon > Properties > Change icon
2. I select the icon I want from the thumbnails of icons.
3. Click OK
4. Click Apply

But the icon does not change. It just stays looking like a white folder.
HOWEVER, if I pin the icon to the taskbar, the icon on the taskbar does look like the icon I selected in step-2. So the change is registered with Win10 but the icon on the desktop just doesn't change.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

How to prevent desktop icons from changing positions

Hi Stephen,

There are various reasons why you're experiencing the issue. Let us isolate your concern by enabling the
Auto arrange icons option, and then disabling it to see if the issue will persist. To do this follow these steps:

• Go to the Desktop screen, and then right click anywhere.
• Hover your mouse on View.
• Select Auto arrange icons.
• Restart the computer.
• After restarting the computer, check if your Desktop icons are still in the right position after clicking the
  Auto arrange icons option.
• If your Desktop icons are in the right position, repeat steps 1-3 to disable the
  Auto arrange icons option.
  
• Customize the position of your Desktop icons.
• Restart the computer.
• After restarting the computer, check if the issue will occur.

We'll be waiting for your response.

 

Weird desktop icon behaviour on Steam

Yes, they are; however, when I right click on the "blue sphere" icon to change it and browse to the corresponding folder inside the Steam folder, it lets me go through all the steps, but the blue sphere remains. *Confused