Wednesday 18 December 2013

Problems with Shortcuts

Good evening readers! For launching certain frequently used applications, we use shortcuts. The shortcut files which are generally present in the desktop have the format of ‘.lnk’. There is a rare problem which occurs with this shortcut files because of the user error. It is when the user right clicks the shortcut and changing the default “open with” application. This makes all the ‘.lnk’ files (all the shortcuts) to open with that particular application. Thus, the shortcut will not open the application it intends to. This issue can be corrected in many ways.
Right click on the shortcut and go to properties.

Now, type the correct application path which the shortcut needs to open in the Target.

But, this process seems very tedious and time consuming as in our problem, we need to change the path of all shortcuts.

Another method to correct this problem is to uninstall the application which was set as the default launcher of the shortcut (‘.lnk’) file. Once you uninstall the application, all the shortcuts get automatically changed to open the intended application correctly.
There is a problem in this method. If the Windows inbuilt applications like Windows Media Player or Internet explorer is chosen as the default launchers, they cannot be uninstalled.
Now, let us see how to tackle this problem. Although these applications cannot be uninstalled, they can be Disabled. This is done as follows,
Step1: Go to My computer and go to Uninstall or change a program.

If it is not found there, go to Control Panel -> Programs and Features

Step 2: Go to the Turn Windows features on or off

Step 3: Now, uncheck the application which you need to disable.

That’s it guys! Your problem is fixed. Good luck!
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