No Shortcut for Frequently Used Programs

[BethBe]

I just got a new laptop with Vista Home Premium installed. The Start Menu is
displaying the frequently used programs, but not all actually launch as
shortcuts. (Mostly Office XP programs) When I check the properties and look
at the Shortcut tab, I cannot access the Target box. I see the program name
displayed but cannot edit the path for specify the .exe file.

Any ideas?

 

[Michael Jennings]

Andy Ihnatko recommends Launchy:
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/474827,CST-FIN-Andy19.article
I admit that this would evade, rather than solving your problem.

"BethBe" <BethBe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8EC61F67-78E1-4814-AAC2-B87F8F443011@microsoft.com...
>I just got a new laptop with Vista Home Premium installed. The Start Menu
>is
> displaying the frequently used programs, but not all actually launch as
> shortcuts. (Mostly Office XP programs) When I check the properties and
> look
> at the Shortcut tab, I cannot access the Target box. I see the program
> name
> displayed but cannot edit the path for specify the .exe file.
>
> Any ideas?

 

[Andrew McLaren]

"BethBe" <BethBe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote ...
>I just got a new laptop with Vista Home Premium installed. The Start Menu
>is
> displaying the frequently used programs, but not all actually launch as
> shortcuts. (Mostly Office XP programs) When I check the properties and
> look
> at the Shortcut tab, I cannot access the Target box. I see the program
> name
> displayed but cannot edit the path for specify the .exe file.


Hi Beth,

I'm not sure I understand what you want to achieve, so bear with me if I'm
off-track ....

Windows Explorer creates 2 kinds of shortcuts.

The first type is fairly common - it's a *.lnk file, located in the Start
Menu fiolder. The lnk file contains a pointer to the target application's
EXE file.

Explorer is a COM-based application and it keeps a namespace of installed
applications which is separate from the filesystem. Applications are
identified by GUIDs and Class IDs. The second type of Explorer shortcut is a
pointer to the application's identifer in Explorer's namespace. It doesn't
rely on specific file locations. This is the type of shortcut which is
created by Office. When you look in the "Target" field of the Start Menu
short cut, you just see a greyed-put Application name, instead of the
"C:\Program Files\Micriosoft Office \Windword.exe", like you would see with
the first kind of shortcut.

Office creates these shortcuts programmatically when it is installed.
There's no easy way for and-users to manipulate the Explorer namespece - it
all exists in the Registry, as a complex mess of values.

What you're seeing is normal and by design, for Office. However, the
applications should still run fine - if you click on the "Word" icon, then
Word should start up, and so on.

If you wanted to, you could also create your own shortcuts manually for
Office applications and point them towards specifc Office EXE files. But
what's wrong with the existing Shiortcuts, created by Office?

Hope this helps,
--
Andrew McLaren
amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au