i figured out what the problem was.

for some reason, the xDesktop module was putting incorrect info into the desktop.rc file. it had some of my icons as being in my 'all users\desktop' folder when they weren't and never had been.

i made a new file to replace desktop.rc and gave it a completely different filename then changed the links to it in the relevant files. when i recycled, the icons came back as they should and so i deleted the desktop.rc file.

i wonder how that managed to happen in the first place though...