After recent update (KDE 4.9.3 I think) the desktop has changed. It now shows the icons of .desktop files of the /home/user/Desktop/ folder. I cannot find the location to change to to get back my previous icons of the .desktop files, that I had added from the menu with the context menu “Add to Desktop command”.
Try clicking the Show Activity Manager in the panel and look if your previous one before the update is in the options.
Or right click in the desktop, Configure (Activity here). This opens a screen which allows you to pick the desktop’s activity.
Yes, conram and Knurpht, that got my icons back! Thanks!