Applications icon disappears from dock every restart

Hi, I've seen this kind of question pop up several times on this and other forums, but none of the suggested solutions work for me, so I'm posting it myself. No matter what I do, whenever I restart my Mac (OS X 10.7.2), the Applications icon is gone from the Dock. I then have to drag a symlink from Finder to where it's supposed to be, to the left of the Trash. Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Any help much appreciated. Best, fort

You mean the Applications Folder?
Click on Applications in the Sidebar, Command Click on the Little Folder Icon next to Applications in the Window Titlebar, this will popup a Menu, select the Hard Drive.
Now you'll see the Applications Folder, drag that down to the Files/Folders area next to the Trash.

PS I don't use that area for Applications, but for my Folders.

Thanks for the reply, Kaveman. Unfortunately, that's what I've been doing: dragging the (System) Applications folder to the dock, but it disappears each time I restart. I want it there because I can easily drag applications to it. Haven't found an easier way to install apps so, if you have any suggestions, that might be a solution of sorts...