Desktop icons are gone

Well...2 days ago I boot up my laptop and the picture I had on the desktop did show but nothing else...except after a few moments,the "start" box did appear in the lower left but...nothing else.Not a single icon on the desktop.So I click on start,then click on whatever programs...nothing happen.This did happen to me before so...I shut it down and reboot it...the same.No icons,the little "start" box and no programs work.After trying 4-5 times to no avail(in fact I did manage to open a photo editor program but it took forever)I decided to try the ALT-CTRL-DEL thing.I got that box and then looking to the different option and decided to try "lock the computer".So,click on this and got the box "unlock the computer" and the message:"this computer is in use and locked".Only administrator/blah-blah-blah can unlock it".So,the administrator name was already typed.I type my password and...the icons all appears now on the desktop but...my desktop's picture is gone.The screen is all blue with my 3 rows on icons.
After my job being finish,I shut it off telling to my-self:"I will take care to put that picture back-up tomorrow".The day after,I switch it on...and again,no icons,only the "start" box which give you accces to all the programs missing but they aren't working or are real slow.
I did notice 3 weeks ago that when I was switching it "on",the icons wouldn't show up right away,The picture that fill the whole screen would but the icons would first show as little white box with I think(???)a Windows logo in it and then after a second or two,they would turn as the real icons.
The only suspicious thing I can see...the day before I started having troubles,I did use a Photo Explosion program(that I did upload many months ago) and did use their "gamma" tweaking tool.It was the first time I discovered that "gamma" thing and did check it out and since it was quite off,I did adjust it.
Any ideas how I could get my icons back on my desktop right away on the screen with the desktop picture and the program all working right away?Thanks!

 

the fact that your computer is running slowly may mean more than just a configuration issue. have you checked for viruses or spyware?

if it's just a configuration issue, then rightclick on your desktop and choose "arrange icons by" and then choose "show desktop icons"; however, even if this does fix it, i would still be concerned about your startup time.

maybe you have too much junk software on your computer or some conflicts (two antivirus programs running or something).

 

Thanks! Before I read your answer,I've been able to bring it back O.K. but...I don't exactly know how?In plus of the administrator account,I have 2 other accounts on the notebook so I went to try these and everything was fine so I did go to that Photo Explosion program and did check their tweaking "gamma" thing and it was just as much off as it was the first time I've seen it before adjusting it but I left it there.Did log out and then log in at the administrator account and my icons were there...working.I just had to re-upload my desktop's picture and that was it.The only thing (I did notice this too about a month ago)that isn't just right it's sometimes(quite often actually)takes and "awfull" amount of time to shut it down.I get that box "Windows is saving your setting" and sometimes it stay there for a minute before the thing shuts down.
How can you check if you have any viruses or spywares.My Norton anti-virus has expired and I didn't renew it but I maybe went on the Internet with this laptop for about one minute since the expiration.Thanks!

 

This would happen to me occasionally when I would boot up with the network connection disabled. I'm guessing that you have XP Home, btw, so you're not on a domain? Are there any files that you may have accessed over the network, maybe set up Media Player to monitor a shared network folder?

 

Thanks!I have Windows XP professionnal.I never get connected to a network...unless I use the wireless Internet service at the library but that's very very rare and I haven't done it between the moment everything was fine and when I did start having problem..