With my laptops, desktop icons tend to get outta control.
I pitstopped by
Simon Haynes' "Spackjock" website to catch up on what was new and found yLaunch. A free program he designed, that works a helluva lot better than the START menu or even the Quick Start menu (which can really get bogged down if you have too may Quick Launch Icons). It sits in your task tray, and it very easy to configure. Just load it up with command to start programs you use regularly.
And it's not my imagination, its a helluva lot more convenient than having to shuffle through the start menu, or finding the right desktop icon. Either right click on tray icon and and launch, or open yLaunch.