Transfer of icon from applications to desktop in Windows 8.1

[Joe Busuttil]

I cannot manage to transfer an icon from my list of applications in Windows 8.1 to the desktop of my pc.

I tried right-clicking on desktop > new > shortcut but got confused what to do when I was asked to give the location of the item I wanted to move.

I gave the location in 3 different ways: I mentioned www.google.co.uk; I mentioned the name of the icon now sitting on the list of applications; I
mentioned desktop; I mentioned Firefox----all to no avail.

What do they mean by "location of the item"? Every time I gave the location as stated above, I got a message telling me that no such file exists.

There was one exception: when I gave the location as Google,
I did get the icon on the desktop, but, horror of horrors, when I went to open that icon on the desktop I only got the window for the google homepage!

Can anyone help me please as I am frustrated?

Many thanks.

Joe