Add Internet Explorer 7 Icon to the Desktop in Windows Vista

The main benefit to using this icon instead of a shortcut is that you can quickly get to the Internet Options page by right-clicking and choosing Properties.

You’ll notice that you can also use “Start Without Add-ons”, which is helpful for troubleshooting problems.

To add this icon back, we’ll need to use a registry hack. You can  manually create the registry entries.

Open regedit.exe using the Start menu search or run box, and then navigate down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel

In the right-hand pane, add a new 32-bit DWORD value with the following name and value:

Key Name: {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}

Value: 0

You should be able to right-click on the desktop and choose Refresh, and the new icon should show up.

Add Home Directory Icon to the Desktop in Windows Vista

One of the new changes in Windows Vista is that each user has a “Home” directory that is actually accessible and meant to be used.

Some of the new features, like the Downloads directory, are only accessible through your Home directory, which is why it makes sense to put an icon for it right on the desktop.

To do this, click the Start button, and then right click on your User name. Choose the Show on Desktop option.Now your home directory icon should show up on your desktop.