Lost Desk top icons

Hi;
In trying to solve other problems, I have lost my desktop icons. Checking disk utility/firstaid tells me there is a problem and to run First Aid from "Recovery" which I cannot find. MAC is running Sierra which has changed the use of disk utility/firstaid.
Any suggestions will be welcome.

About macOS Recovery, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Using an IMac...upgraded to el capitan some time ago...had a number of articles saved to desk top until yeaterday...new security suggested and I declined....every thing on my desk top has vanished, found some in files...I do have the voice thing which accepts questions but the voice cannot help with this....does anyone have any ideas as to what I should do....not a techical sort of man

newsy said:

Using an IMac...upgraded to el capitan some time ago...had a number of articles saved to desk top until yeaterday...new security suggested and I declined....

Click to expand...

Are you sure you're logged in as your usual user??

Is anything showing when using the Finder and select Go(menu) -> Desktop???

Do you have a recent backup???

lost desk top

pm-r said:

Are you sure you're logged in as your usual user??

Is anything showing when using the Finder and select Go(menu) -> Desktop???

Do you have a recent backup???

Click to expand...

thank you for the reply...I cannot remember all I looked at but I did find under my name a box with seven folders(?) one of which says desktop...I tried to open one of the others and it disappeared...took one of the others outside the section it was in and it opened to two other folders, now wondering if I should remove the folder marked desktop and try to open that...just not sure...I did have a few stories on my desk top and perhaps it emptied because it was too full...just not sure what to do...

The disappearance seems to have coincided with the suggestion that I add an extra level of security.

newsy said:

The disappearance seems to have coincided with the suggestion that I add an extra level of security.

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You're going to have to be more definitive than that... what extra level of security were you offered and by whom?

chscag said:

You're going to have to be more definitive than that... what extra level of security were you offered and by whom?

Click to expand...

This is probably another case where having a bootable clone backup before any extra level of security was added would help fix things.

If one does exist, I'd boot from it to check and then use it to clone back.

I'm just wondering if that extra level of security was either "MacKeeper" or "Clean My Mac" or some other garbage application. The only security updates every offered that are legal are by Apple and that's thru the update system. That's why we really need to know what he was offered.

The extra level of security I think was was apple but wasn't sure. The message suggested a phone number and I balked. Did some searching today and almost all that which had been on my desktop, reappeared, laid out differently and I have managed to tidy, now have eleven folders...thank everyone who offered advice.

Glad things worked out for you. Apple never provides security updates that way (suggesting a phone number) so be careful in the future.

Thank you administrator...is the airplane a B-25 (Mitchell) ?

newsy said:

Thank you administrator...is the airplane a B-25 (Mitchell) ?

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It's a Douglas B-26D "Invader" used in the Korean War and early days of the Viet Nam War.

Thank you, a faulty memory thinks that the B-25 had a different tail section and the B-26D appears to have a wider wingspan.

This may look familiar and just to the north of us at the Victoria International Airport, Sidney BC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-26_Invader#/media/File:B-26_water_bomber.JPG

Thanks Patrick. That's a converted "clamshell" B-26. (Known as an A-26 during WWII). The solid nose contained 50MM guns whereas the model in my photo has a bomber nose (solid plexiglass for the crew member and bomb sight). Both models used PW R-2800 engines. After the Viet Nam war many of the older B-26s were put into mothballs at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tuscan, Arizona. However, some were later sold off to private corporations and third world countries.

Canadian air force and the Brits got a lot of mileage out of the B-25, more commonly known as the Mitchell.

chscag said:

. After the Viet Nam war many of the older B-26s were put into mothballs at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tuscan, Arizona.

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I was in Tucson aa few years ago for a day or two and we had intended to go to the museum. That was mid-way the trip and it was June. We never made it to the museum. Decided to have an in hotel day rather than battle the heat. Probably just as well, I had a couple of video classes to finish.