dalem29, To place the IE Icon on the desktop you can go to start-all programs, locate the IE icon and right click on the icon then choose to send to desktop as a shortcut. To clear the pages that open up in IE you can delete temp files and history by following the steps below in the link. [URL]  
In Windows 7 the icon for IE is in the taskbar. In my other computer using Vista, this icon sits on the desktop and pressing it brings up MSN.com which is my home page. I would like to get this application to open from my desktop instead of from the taskbar. Hovering over the IE icon on the taskbar brings up small representations of open pages, which can get confusing at times. Is there a procedure to fix this? If I am working a document and need to look something up I lose what I am working on going back and forth from page to page, since the icon on the taskbar only brings up the pages that are already open. Thanks for any suggestions, 
Reposition Internet Explorer Icon