Unable to pin to taskbar, something missing in registry?

So just recently I had a trojan virus that I managed to get rid of with the help of Majorgeeks. I can't say how thankful I am, b/c it wouldn't let me do anything.

Everything has been working fine since, but I have one last problem, which isn't so much a problem as it is just an inconvenience. I have windows 7 32-bit OS, and I believe that I'm missing something in my registry that allowed me to pin things to the taskbar. There are some things pinned to my taskbar now, but if I unpinned them, I would not be able to get them back (Things that were there pre-virus).

So do you guys have any suggestions? Thanks again.

~Brad

 

If a program has one of these terms in it

Code:

Documentation;Help;Install;More Info;Readme;Read me;Read First;Setup;Support;What's New;Remove

you will not get the menu choice "pin this program to taskbar" when you right click the exe of the program.

Double check that you are right clicking the exe and not a shortcut to the program. Also check that one of the above words is not part of the program name.

 

That's what I have tried. Even when the program is open from either the original exe or a shortcut, when I right click the icon on the taskbar, it gives me the option to "pin this program to taskbar", but it won't stick and the "pin" part won't change to "unpin.." . And for verification, none of the programs that I want to pin contain any of the terms listed above (or below?).

 

Found this over at Microsoft for you, see if it helps at all :

In Windows 7, there may be occasional error where user cannot drag and drop an application program to Windows Taskbar (Superbar) and Start Menu anymore, with the icon shows a red cross when user attempts to place it on Taskbar or Start Menu. When right click on a program icon or shortcut, the “Pin to Taskbar” and “Pin to Start Menu” context menu is missing and not showing too.
The cause of the problem is because users have made the shortcut in Windows 7 to be ‘not a shortcut’ by removing the shortcut arrow on icons, including desktop icons, by removing IsShortcut registry key.
Thus, to fix the issue that application programs unable to pin to Taskbar and Start Menu, just re-add the IsShortcut registry key back to .lnk (and other extensions if applicable) shortcut to reset and restore back original registry values.
The error happens because of missing registry value data for lnkfile registry key, which defines the behavior of all shortcut or .lnk files on the system. The registry value data in question, IsShortcut, can be accidentally deleted when user tries to hide and remove the arrow overlay icon on shortcuts.
=============================================================================================
To resolve the missing or lost “Open file location” entry, the IsShortcut registry value and the file associations for shortcuts has to be fixed.

1. Run Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
3. Right click on the right pane, and select New -> String Value (REG_SZ) to create a new registry value.
4. Name the new registry value as IsShortcut . No value data required.
5. Restart the computer.

As i said, hope this helps !!!!!!!

 

I was doing some research and found something similar to this on a couple sites. I'm looking through my registry and I'm not seeing HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Inkfile, I have a .ink folder, but not Inkfile. The closest thing I have is Inifile. Should I add this folder back and put in this single string?

 

The name is .lnk (short for Link file) so you are probably misreading the l for i. Go ahead and follow Rustyjack's instructions.

You might take a look at the setting in Option 2 here although I am guessing it is set correctly. Basically see if it is set as the screens shots fon't necessarily enable/disable the pinning. I hate to go outside of MG but I would suggest making a post over there and hope Brink takes a look at the problem. He is very knowledgable about Win7 registry settings.