When the desktop icons gets messed up, you probably don't need to reinstall the programs (or Windows!) - you just need to reset the iconcache file. It's a fairly easily process too - easier than reinstalling the applications.
- Close all Windows Explorer windows that are open. It's highly recommended that you close all Windows, especially if using Windows 8/8.1
- Right click on task bar and choose Task Manager
- Switch to Processes tab and right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process and confirm.
- On File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)
- Type CMD.EXE, click OK
- In the Command Prompt window, type or copy and paste these commands one by one, pressing Enter after each command:
Windows 8, 8.1, and 10:
CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
DEL IconCache*
DEL thumb*
explorer
EXIT
Windows 7/Vista:
CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
DEL IconCache.db
explorer
EXIT
Windows will rebuild the iconcache and all icons should look normal again.