Missing hard drive icon (things just aren't the same anymore)

I've been running OS 10.8.2 on my 17" macbook pro and offerred to assist a friend moving from a Dell to a brand new 13" macbook pro which is also running 10.8.2. The hard drive icon is missing from the desk top and when ever I plug in a USB thumb drive or even a DVD it won't show up except in the finder window. Can anyone tell me how get these icons back on the desktop?

Also, I find that when ever I send an email from this machine it appears on my mail program as "admin" but when opening the email the correct name is in "from" field in the email. I would like to change out the "admin" for the correct name.

Thanks,

Scott