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I am using Windows XP Pro SP2 on my system. Recently there were some critical updates installed on my system. After that there is a bit change in the system behavior. I cannot place Internet Explorer icon on my desktop. I tried to do that by right clicking on the desktop > properties > customize desktop. But the icon is not visible. Also the system started working extremely slow. I checked in Task Manager, the cpu remains always high.
I got the same issue. I checked my system properly. I was unable to place IE icon on the desktop. Later on I found the there is a virus issue. I do not know how it affects the desktop work, but due to that I was not able to do anything. The system also worked very slow. I formatted my computer and installed xp back and things went back to normal. Scan your system in safe mode and then seen. Even I think there is a virus problem.
One thing you can do is remove the recent updates. You can find them inside Add/Remove program. You have to remove those updates and then check back. It happens a number of time due to buggy updates this kind of issue appear. You have to simply remove them and next time try to manually install update. Do not add just everything.
It can be a theming issue also. I think due to corrupt theme this kind of issue appear. Put everything on classic theme and then check back. Later on try back to add the icons on the desktop. I am sure they will be visible. Right click on the desktop and see what all options are listed. Among which you can choose and configure icons. I am sure that will be more helpful for you. The last thing you can do is simply run system restore.
System restore will be a proper solution for you. There can be issue with removing updates. There can be more errors. It is not a major issue. Sometime it happens due to some theming bug as mentioned above the problem appear. It is essential that you must simply restore your original settings back and then see whether everything is working fine or not.