How this kind of shortcut works

Peter Zou

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May 17, 2006, 6:03:02 PM5/17/06

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When you open the properties page of Microsoft Office or Crystal Report
shortcut, you will find only program title, not the actual program EXE, in
the "Target" textbox. Also the box, "Find Target" button, and "Change Icon"
button are all disabled (greyed out). Here are my questions:

1. How to setup a shortcut like this
2. How to know to which program file the shortcut is pointing
3. Can you re-enable "Find Target" button on property page for this kind of
shortcut.

Thanks

Wesley Vogel

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May 17, 2006, 6:45:22 PM5/17/06

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The Target box is also grayed out.

1. Those shortcuts are created by the application.
2. Look in the Target box.
3. You cannot. Create a new shortcut.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

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Peter Zou <Pete...@discussions.microsoft.com> hunted and pecked:

David Candy

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May 17, 2006, 10:31:50 PM5/17/06

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These are windows Installer's shortcuts. Windows Installer looks after starting the application, usually after checking that critical files/registry settings are in place (if not it starts a repair). Therefore the target isn't your application. EG Word 2000 is C:\WINDOWS\Installer\{00000409-78E1-11D2-B60F-006097C998E7}\wordicon.exe (find targets work just greyed out as irrelevent)

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cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)

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May 20, 2006, 5:41:19 PM5/20/06

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On Thu, 18 May 2006 12:31:50 +1000, "David Candy" <.> wrote:

>These are windows Installer's shortcuts. Windows Installer looks after starting
>the application, usually after checking that critical files/registry settings are in
>place (if not it starts a repair). Therefore the target isn't your application. EG

>Word 2000 is...

>C:\WINDOWS\Installer\{00000409-78E1-11D2-B60F-006097C998E7}\wordicon.exe

>(find targets work just greyed out as irrelevent)

I don't like this much (if at all) because it obscures what is
running, and where it is running from. Sooner or later some malware's
going to exploit this as a hiding place.

Also, I find the process tends to nag for installation disks, or
re-start some long-done installation process - often one that is
unrelated to what you are starting up, e.g. you start Word and an old
HP scanner bundle installation starts up again.

>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Wesley Vogel

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May 21, 2006, 11:16:50 AM5/21/06

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"C:\Documents and Settings\Wesley P. Vogel\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates\¾x½, 1x1.dot" is what starts winword.exe for me.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

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