Many of the highly touted "tweaker" and "cleanup" programs do things similar to what is described, without explanation of what they're doing and with unexpected results. For this reason, Microsoft recommends that you DO NOT USE THEM, with the exception of a very limited list of "approved" ones that you may find suggested for specific problems.

If you right click on an empty place on the Desktop, one of the options should be "View" where you can click to "show desktop icons" or "hide desktop icons." Clicking "hide" will remove all of them from view, but does not delete any of them. Clicking "show" should bring them all back.

Recollection is that WinXP had a utility called "desktop cleanup" or something similar that would automatically remove any icons that you haven't clicked recently. I don't find it in Vista or Win7 (although both have similarly annoying features) but don't have a WinXP machine to look at. You could run a "one time" cleanup, or you could turn it on so that things disappeared at random, whenever the utility decides you haven't used one. There was no explanation that I can recall of what the utility defined as "recently."

From memory, I believe that the utility included a "Restore icons," but again I don't have a system running where I can check what was there. It may have created a folder called "Shortcuts," probably under your username, where it kept copies of all the shortcuts on the desktop, and if you can find anything of that sort you could just drag copies of the ones you want back onto the desktop. You might also find some of your icons still in a folder named "Desktop" under your username, where some of the "disappeard" shortcuts might still be present.

Your "optimizer" program may have completely removed the shortcuts that disappeared, and if it did so you'll need to recreate them. Just right click on the file and either "send to desktop" or "create shortcut" and then drag (or Ctl-C/Ctl-V) the shortcut out onto the desktop, as you've obviously figured out.

Norton is a special problem, because it can be difficult to identify the correct file to link to. There should be a Norton folder in C:\Program Files, and examples I have handy indicate the shortcut should be to an "exe" file, but there probably are several in the folder. In Windows Explorer, if you right click on the top bar, you should get a "More" option where you can choose what columns are displayed. If you add "file type" (if you don't already have it displayed) and then click that button on the top bar, everything will be sorted so that all the .exe files appear together. You could then create desktop shortcuts to each of the .exe files, and then click each in turn on the desktop. Delete the ones that don't do something useful and you should end up with the one you want. (I'm using NIS rather than 360, but my desktop shortcut is to "C:\Program Files\Norton Internet Security\Engine\18.6.0.29\uiStub.exe" and yours may be similar, if not identical.) Since Norton often "upgrades" you if you continue a subscription, you may not be using the same-named version you installed originally.

A better approach might be to go to the Norton/Symantec website and find the "live support" button where an assistant (a real person)will "discuss" the problem with you in real-time via an emailish connection. (You do need to install a utility for the connection, that allows the assistant to access your computer, but the utility disappears when you exit the connection. You have to reinstall each time you use the method.)

John