HI Calmat
Something very similar happened to my girl friend, yesterday. In her case, and maybe yours, the entire anti virus was gone. If you cannot find Security Essentials, at all, try to reinstall. It solved our problem. My guess, its has something to do with the MSE update, dated April 28. Cant hurt to try.
BTW, good to see you again, buddy and wish you luck
EDIT: Your post shows that the object of the shortcut (the Anti Virus is gone, the same problem that we had).