Shortcuts, why do you need them?

When I run EmpTemp http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1575 , it tells me I have 500+ valid shortcuts on my C:\ drive. As a firm believer in Pareto, the 80/20 rule, or ABC rule, I figger that at least 400+, whilst valid, I never use. What would happen if I named all my *.lnk files to some other suffix. Windows automatically creates them, I think, whether you want it to or not, when you use Explorer to find a file or graphic.

I use SlickRun http://www.bayden.com/dl/sr-upgrade.exe instead of shortcuts, on my startup screen. 130+ magicwords, so far, and these cover nearly all the stuff I want to run often.
I don't need shortcuts to find them.

Would appreciate a practical answer, not a theoretical answer, if anyone has been silly enough to try this. A byproduct would be to delete 500+ files from my hard drive. Bazza

 

This seems to need a real Geek for answers. I always thought it was just the way th OS operated.

 

Hi Bazza
Far as I am aware Explorer does'nt create shortcuts(at least permanent ones) when you click on a file to open it. Most programs will create them when installed unless you opt not to create the shortcut as part of the install process.
That said is it possible that emptempt is finding temp shortcuts in your registry in which case you could get rid of them using emptemp.
If however you can actually see shortcuts on your hardrive either on desktop or in programs then if you don't want them then delete them.
Cheers
Robert

 

Got a problem there ran out of time. It is possible that the program you use to open a progam is merely substituting a name you nominate for the program you want to open instead of the progam name - this is easily done using windows properties so don't willy nilly kill all your shortcut without checking that out first.

 

I think one thing your missing out on is that practically everything in your start menu is a shortcut. Including recent file list, all the programs, help links, etc etc etc. I am assuming xp, but navigate over to your user profile folder in c:\documents and settings and open up your recently opened files, you might be suprised. It is all short-cuts and if you're anything like me they are shortcuts to stuff that has long since been deleted off of your HD.

 

I agree with MechGeek an a way but many of these are deleted when you us are cleaning the OS with something like JV16. I have noticed shotcuts to dld programs that get deleted after I move them.

 

I'm not familiar with JV16 but most cleaning programs i've seen don't mess with shortcuts as a rule. They will clean out your recently opened files folder but as a rule they don't go through and just delete shortcuts. It would need input from the user to determine what was a necessary shortcut and what wasn't.
As a direct answer to your initial question bazz, you would pretty much wipe your start menu clean (this would be bad for me, it may not be for you since you use slickrun) otherwise you would be deleting shortcuts in your recently used file list (this doesn't bother me at all, might not be good for you).
Hope this helps.

 

This program will find all orphaned shortcuts for you. I keep my OS pretty clean, and my start menu trimmed as much as possible, but the first time I ran this, it found close to 100 orphaned shortcuts. It's fast, and free.

This is some info on it

http://www.freelists.org/archives/1stpicksoftware/04-2004/msg00000.html

This is where to get it

http://www.digiarch.org/other.html#orphansremover

 

dperino, another nice catch!

Cheers

 

To answer the original question: Shortcuts, why do you need them?

If Windows didn't use shortcuts, every time you want to run a program, you'd have to open Windows Explorer (from the Run box, typing in "explorer") and drill down through folders until you found the executable file that runs the program you want to use. Or you could type the full path to the executable in the Run box if you happened to know it. Either way, not very convenient.

 

Hi, I think I was referring to a different type of shortcut rather than those in the Start Menu. JV16 encourages a user to check what is being deleted before selecting it for deletion and there seems to be references to the word "shortcut" that has nothing to do with the Menu. I just noticed it and have not really studied it so don't know why which was the original question. I thought the question was referring to this type of shortcut which seems to link 2 programs together temporarily.

 

Thanks all for the replies. I've been missing for a couple of days thanks to a very dodgy phone plug. Now fixed. Restating my original post. I have 500+ valid shortcuts, no invalid ones. I houseclean my PC every day. I use SlickRun with 150+ valid MagicWords (equivalent to shortcuts) that I use for most of the stuff that I use. I do use Explorer and/or Mydocs to drill down to anything else. If I can get by with 150 MagicWords, why have 500+ shortcuts, most of which I don't, or have never used. Space is not the issue as I have plenty, but I would like to try this exercise and see what happens. It will remove 500 files from my drive as well. Bazza

PS: I think I will try a file renamer, rename all my *.lnk files to *.Baz and see what happens. Baz

 

Hi, Before you do alter anything make and image or restore point so that if you have made a mistake you can go back to where you were before.

If you nave Goback don't rely on it as it is only usually good for a short period.

 

can i ask a quest? heh since im asking a shortcuts question..so why not anyway i make a shortcuts for a folder, now what i want to do is how can i make that shortcuts to a empty folder with the same name and stuff? because i got tons of those folder shortcuts just to remember the name and stuff...there is a way to change those shortcuts to a empty folder with the same name right?

 

Thanks mal, I use W98Se so don't have restore points. Although I downloaded Goback, I have never used it. Must give it a try. I will do a full backup before starting this experiment, though. Bazza

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Xhui, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve. Give SlickRun a try instead.

I use SlickRun http://www.bayden.com/dl/sr-upgrade.exe instead of shortcuts (icons) on my startup screen. 130+ magicwords, so far, and these cover nearly all the stuff I want to run often.

For example "X" gets me into Excel, "IE" gets Internet Explorer. "MG" gets me straight to my Major Geeks Excel spreadsheet that I use as a database of interesting posts, "AOL" loads AOL, "expl" straight to Windows Explorer, "cc" runs CrapCleaner, "cl" runs Cleanup.

You get the idea. No shortcuts, no need for shortcut icons on your startup screen.

It even uses intelligent logic so that sometimes just typing the first letter (eg A gets me AOL) if I have used it in this session. My most used, essential program.

Baz

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