Windows 7 Computer Maintenance - Restore removed Desktop Shortcuts
Edit 2 "I suck at googling":
Apparently I was googling for the wrong thing. I typed in "desktop shortcuts missing Windows 7" and I get this.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978980
It looks you were right and they added it back into Windows 7. Ugh. . .
Odd that the documented method to disable this action is exactly what you did.
But the article also confirms that the shortcuts are deleted
Well, it isn't "Computer maintenance" or "Action Center" according to Wikipedia. They removed the "Desktop icon cleaner" in Vista. So if the icons have disappeared, I'd first check to see if they are hidden.
You can right click the desktop and under View, click "Show icons".
If System restore was turned off (God only knows why any admin would do that??), and it isn't a roaming profile, and you have no backups of their system, I'm afraid you are SOL.
Edit:
LMGTFY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_removed_from_Windows_Vista
Transitive: It is also not present in Windows 7
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprogeneral/thread/ada5d392-2af7-43c3-9191-08baf63f0098
The issue can be caused by some scheduled tasks that helps you to clear the shortcuts. Desktop Cleanup Utility is not present in Windows 7. It can be caused by some third party programs. Please specially pay attention to any system optimizing programs.
Another method is enable object auditing for the Desktop folder.
- Click Start, enter GPedit.msc in the Start Search box.
- Open the following branch.
Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Security
- Enable the following policies:
Audit account logon events Audit object access
- Open Windows Explorer, open the folder C:\Users[username].
- Right click the folder “Desktop”, choose Properties->Security. Click the Advanced button.
- Click the Auditing tab. Click Continue.
- Click Add. Then click Advanced.
- Click the button Find Now.
- Wait for the process finishes. Then from the users list add the following users.
ANONYMOUS LOGON BATCH CREATOR OWNER Everyone Guests LOCAL SERVICE NETWORK NETWORK SERVICE SERVICE SYSTEM
- After selecting each user, choose “Delete” and “Delete subfolders and files” as the auditing entries.
If you would like to check which account was trying to remove items in the folder, please open Event Viewer, check the Windows Logs\Security Log for detail information.
Since the issue occurs on every Monday, I suggest you enable this policy on Sunday evening. Otherwise there will be plenty of events. When you find that the shortcuts are vanished, please disable auditing at once and check Event Log.
Arthur Xie - MSFT
Other results:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh304572.aspx
By the way, you can disable the unused icons balloon from the Control Panel. Go to your Display properties, click the Desktop tab, then click on Customize Desktop. Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days. To disable it by policy, enable the Remove the Desktop Cleanup Wizard policy under the Desktop node. You’ll be relieved to know that the Desktop Cleanup Wizard is completely gone in Windows Vista and beyond.
The icons may still be found in some system restore point, and can be extracted without restoring back to that point.
From How to Extract Files and Folders from System Restore Points in Windows 7 and Vista :
In System Restore Explorer, select a specific restore point that you would like to mount, and click on the Mount button.
This will now open the mounted restore point in a Windows Explorer window where you can now browse and copy any file and folder you like.
(source: sevenforums.com)
The shortcut of the mounted restore point will stay in the root directory of the Windows C: drive until you unmount it by in System Restore Explorer, selecting the mounted restore point and clicking on the Unmount button.
