As noted in another post by Intuit (on this Q&A Site):

"Nice to have you in the Community. Allow me to guide you on exporting from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Desktop. 

The reason why your gear icon is disappearing is that Internet Explorer is discontinuing support with our products. Meaning Internet Explorer 11 and Safari 10 will no longer work with QuickBooks due to the browsers using an older technology. You can reference this article about the Discontinued support if you would like more information."