My o/s is about 4 yrs old (Mint 17). It has been running fine although I had been thinking about upgrading as I was aware the system wasn't up to speed anymore and was gradually slowing down. The problem is I am not a tech savvy person at all so would need outside help. In any case, when the pandemic started I knew I would not be upgrading any time soon and hoped all would be well. All was well until a couple of days ago, when out of the blue, the green "show desktop" icon in the lower left corner of the panel was blank, no content at all. Right clicking displayed, the 2 options: 1) About... and 2) Remove This Applet. Single clicking resulted in the screen going blank or reverting to the background image. I can not access anything through the desktop as all content has just disappeared! Therefore I have no access to any programs, such as GIMP which I use all the time, and word files that I use daily for my work. Everything else is still functioning so my work is not being hampered at this point, however there is no way to know if something more severe is imminent. I have done a complete backup just in case. I would appreciate any input on this matter. Marlene