Clicking on a jpg file icon brings me to my desktop ??

Maybe I should guess the numbers for the next lottery.   😁

You are still not fully explaining what is happening.  We need to know step-by-step details of what you are doing and what is happening when you do it.

The only guess I can make about what you are telling us is that you have opened the Photoshop Elements Editor, you have gone to the File>Open menu, and in the navigation box, you have double-clicked on a jpg thumbnail/file icon.  The Editor then crashes/disappears and you are back to the desktop without any error message appearing.  Is this what is happening?  If not, what is it that you are doing?

If I have given an accurate description of your problem, please answer the following questions:

1. Are you always able to reopen the Editor?
2. Have you tried opening different files or does the problem occur with only one file or one set of files?
3. If you are able to open the Editor, try resetting the preferences file. Go to Edit>Preferences>General tab and click the Reset Preferences on next launch button.
4. Are you able to open a file from the Organizer?

I shall await your response before asking other trouble-shooting questins.

Perhaps if you gave us some more information, we could. 

This is a Photoshop Elements forum.  Are you using the Photoshop Elements Editor or Organizer or something else?  What version of Elements?

When you say you are taken to the desktop, do you mean the program is crashing?  Are you getting any error messages?