Windows 7 RTM can eat up some of the desktop shortcuts created by end users, Microsoft explained. Customers running the latest iteration of the Windows client have reported that in certain scenarios shortcuts that they placed on the desktop disappeared altogether. According to the Redmond company, this is expected, by design, behavior in Windows 7. At fault is the System Maintenance troubleshooter that will delete all shortcuts from the desktop as long as they are considered broken.

“The System Maintenance troubleshooter performs a weekly maintenance of the operating system. The System Maintenance troubleshooter either fixes problems automatically or reports problems through Action Center. When there are more than four broken shortcuts on the desktop, the System Maintenance troubleshooter automatically removes all broken shortcuts from the desktop,” Microsoft stated.

According to the software giant, the System Maintenance troubleshooter has a certain limit that triggers it to delete broken shortcuts. Microsoft informs that keeping the number of broken shortcuts on the desktop to no more than four ensures that they won’t be touched. But place five broken shortcuts on the Windows 7 desktop and they will be deleted.

“If you must have more than four broken shortcuts on your desktop, you can disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter. If you disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter, all the maintenance tasks that it performs are disabled. To disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter, follow these steps: click Start, and then click Control Panel. Under System and Security, click Find and fix problems. On the left navigation pane, click Change settings. Set Computer Maintenance to Off,” Microsoft added.

The Redmond company explained that users could frequently create Windows 7 desktop shortcuts that were broken. “For example, a desktop shortcut for a USB device may be regarded as broken if the USB device is not connected when the System Maintenance troubleshooter performs its maintenance,” the software giant explained. This behavior is by design, as already mentioned, so users should not expect a fix.