Desktop Icons, KDE, and Battery Status

When I first installed 11.1, I had a darker area on the desktop, with icons inside.
Somehow, there gone. Looked all over but can’t see what happened. How do I get them back?

If I’m not mistaken, KDE and Gnome come with SUSE (updated). How do I tell which one I’m in? Maybe that’s what happened to my icons? Could I be in Gnome, without icons?

Is KDE Default? Never given a choice.

On Windows and other distros, on a Laptop, there is a battery status indicator. Lets you know the level of the battery. In SUSE 11.1, it’s not available. Can anything be done?

Thank you,
Chris.