Issue
Icons/ shortcuts to Designer and other apps are being removed. Only the shortcuts are being deleted – the Designer application remains intact.
Cause
Microsoft released a Windows Defender update that is deleting a user’s shortcuts.
This has global impact for any customer whose organization uses Microsoft Defender. This is a Microsoft Defender issue and needs to be handled by IT departments.
Resolution
Shortcuts must be deleted and re-created.
To create a new Shortcut for Designer, you must locate the AlteryxGUI.exe file that lives in the Alteryx installation directory:
• For Admin Designer: C:\ProgramFiles\AppData\Local\Alteryx\bin\AlteryxGui.exe
• For Non-Admin Designer: C:\Users\%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Alteryx\bin\AlteryxGui.exe
Once the broken shortcut is deleted and AlteryxGUI.exe is located, you can right-click AlteryxGUI.exe and create new Desktop & Start Menu shortcuts.
Additional info
This also impacts Taskbar shortcuts which will also need to be re-created by re-pinning the icon to the taskbar. Here are some further details:
Buggy Microsoft Defender ASR rule deletes Windows app shortcuts
