Vista - Desktop Issues - Icons and overall

Hello, last night everything was working ok, and now I seem to be having some
problems with my desktop after I restarted my computer.

I am running windows vista home premium 64 bit edition, and have had no
previous history of this problem. I am running an extended desktop with 2
monitors, and have been successfully for many months now. Upon startup,
everything appears normal (sidebar, etc is working correctly). The desktop
image (which is a custom vista image) appears as usual, and if i right click
on it, it does work as usual, and the dialogue pops up. However, my icons
have disappeared, and i cannot 'highlight' my desktop (draw a box with my
mouse). I have selected 'show icons' and know that there still should be
icons on my desktop because they appear on the My Computer 'desktop' view.
Any ideas how i can fix this problem? It would be nice to be able to use my
desktop and the shortcuts like before.

Thanks

Hello shogu,
Try to do a system restore, picking a date before last night as your restore point.
Here is also a link about desktop icons, if you want to have a look.

Desktop Icons

If none of the above works, you can try to rebuild the icon cache. Look for the tutorial in the " Related " section.