Why do my desktop icons disappear?

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 Q: At random times, when I click one of my desktop shortcuts, I am taken to the program and then my desktop icon goes missing leaving only the name of the shortcut on the desktop. A reboot will fix the problem, but how can I stop this from happening.
 
 A: I have heard of others having the same issue. I'm not quite sure why this is happening, but in most cases just single left click an empty area of your desktop and then press the F5 key on your keyboard to refresh the desktop.