Colin's Weekly Tip: Remove the Shortcut to...

[Colin]

The ability to create shortcut keys for just about anything is a neat, and useful feature of Windows. One of my biggest pet peeve's is the shortcuts that are created always say "Shortcut to" at the very beginning.<BR>Luckily with a bit of registry editing we can get rid of that prefix. Go to Start, then Run, and type "regedit". From there follow this path... HKEY_CURRENT_USER - Software - Microsoft - Windows - CurrentVersion - Explorer. Once you're there find the "link" binary value. By default the value inside is 0000 0F 00 00 00, we want to change it to 0000 00 00 00 00.<BR><BR>Once that change is made just close your registry and from now on when you make a shortcut, it will no longer say "Shortcut to" anymore. This registry tweak works with all Windows OS's.

[jhughe90]

This doesn't work in XP as Microsoft changed the default shortcut behavior. My shortcuts appear as 'XYZ Shortcut' and not 'Shortcut to XYZ'. The registry value was 1A instead of 0F, and changing it to 00 did not change how it behaves.

[Colin]

<br><br><< <i>This doesn't work in XP as Microsoft changed the default shortcut behavior. My shortcuts appear as 'XYZ Shortcut' and not 'Shortcut to XYZ'. The registry value was 1A instead of 0F, and changing it to 00 did not change how it behaves. </i> >><br><br>Hmm, I tried this on my system at home which uses XP Pro and it worked... I'll look at it again when I get home today since the computer I use at work is running Win2k.

[Colin]

jhughe90 are you sure you did the tweak properly? My system at home which uses WinXP Pro no longer displays Shortcut to when a shortcut is made.

[jhughe90]

I'm running XP Home. It turns out I had to reboot to get the registry change to commit. Otherwise it would change the registry value back to 1d or 1e after creating a shortcut. The fact that the registry value wasn't consistent is also interesting.

[Colin]

<br><br><< <i>I'm running XP Home. It turns out I had to reboot to get the registry change to commit. Otherwise it would change the registry value back to 1d or 1e after creating a shortcut. The fact that the registry value wasn't consistent is also interesting.</i> >><br><br>Haha... Well I'm glad you figured it out! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[davi00]

Hey Colin, i have Win xp pro and when i went to the "link" binary value, my number were different they were <BR>0000 18 00 00 00, does it matter if the numbers are different.

[Colin]

Hey davi00! Welcome to PCStats! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Hmm... No one that e-mailed me with that registry string! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif" border="0"> What I would suggest is for you to back up your registry if you intend to do this mod. This way, if you hose your OS just boot into safe mode and restore.

[mE_sTiR]

what about that annoying little arrow on shortcuts?<BR>that little thing in the bottom left...<BR><BR>its annoying

[NaSTy]

mE_sTiR, I take it you're not fond of the arrow

[mE_sTiR]

you're attention to detail is amazing<BR>lol you're right, i just dont like that stupid little arrow. i've seen some tweak proggies remove the arrow for me, but i forget which ones, and i'd rather just edit the registry myself.. .i jsut dont know which to change and stuff.

[Colin]

Sorry, I'm not sure how to remove it right now... When I figure it out, I'll let ya know! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

[Anishnabek]

This URL will take you to Annoyances.org where you can find your OS's version of TWEAKUI.<BR><BR><BR><b>http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui</b><BR><BR><BR>This famed Powertoys utility will allow you to alter, delete, remove, add, and fine-tune various settings such as the "Shortcut to" prefix, the "XYZ Shortcut" suffix (mentioned earlier) and the "annoying little arrow" (mentioned here) <i>without either opening Regedit thus fooling with your registry or having to back-up your registry w/reboot.</i><BR><BR>Of course, it's no substitue for feeling the power and psuedo-confidence that comes from fooling with the registry. It is a way, however; to remove the "annoying little arrow" and the "Shortcut to" prefix without Regedit.<BR><BR><BR>

[mE_sTiR]

:'( you did it!<BR>you finally did it!<BR>im so happy... :-p lol, yea thanks colin, i just checked the newsletter, and saw the magical solution to that little arrow... thanks alot

[Dunc]

Tried to do the following on Windows XP Home Edition:<BR><BR>Let's open up regedit, go to Start then run and from there type regedit. From there follow this path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -> lnkfile (that's an L). Inside there rename the IsShortcut String value to AriochIsShortcut. Reboot your machine and now you will notice all your shortcut icon's no longer have that annoying little arrow. This works with both WindowsXP and Win2k, I'm not sure if it works with Win98 to be honest I haven't even touched a Win9x based OS in the last year.<BR><BR>But to no success can only find inffile and inifile no inkfile.. that you mentioned.. ???<BR><BR>Please help <BR><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>