Shortcut Problems

[Guest]

Can anyone advise me on why some of my shortcuts are coming up with the .exe and the .txt at the end of the shortcut?
i have tried to delete the .exe & .txt but then it says changing the format it wont run properly.
Can someone advise me on what i did to have done this?...and what i can do to revert it back without having to format my pc?
Any help would be gratefully recieved.

 

[Malke]

Can anyone advise me on why some of my shortcuts are coming up with
the .exe and the .txt at the end of the shortcut? i have tried to
delete the .exe & .txt but then it says changing the format it wont
run properly. Can someone advise me on what i did to have done
this?...and what i can do to revert it back without having to format
my pc? Any help would be gratefully recieved.

OK, let's go over what you did here. Try to remember. How did you make
the shortcuts? It certainly sounds as if you did a "copy" instead of
"create shortcut". If you are seeing an icon on your desktop that
says, for example, file.txt or program.exe, then it would seem that you
didn't make a shortcut. Right-click on the file and see what its
Properties are. If it is a shortcut, it should say so. If it is an
executable, it will say so. Post back and describe exactly what you did
to get those "shortcuts" to the desktop (or wherever they are).

Malke

 

[Guest]

Malke,
Thanks for your help in this matter, i really dont know who i or it happened? i have formatted my pc many times without anything like this happening before.
If say for instance, i wanted to created a note pad document on my desktop, i right click choose note pad, it comes out with new text document.TXT same with word, it comes New Microsoft Word Document.doc basically, everything i have on my right click, has a command after the . (dot) and if i delete that .command, it doesnt recognised the format and i cant use it? its not annoying or anything, i just wondered how or why after all this time, it has decided to appear like this?
when the time comes that i do find it annoying i will just format the pc, but i dont fancy doing that just yet, if i can find a way of rectifying this little hic cup without formatting?

 

[Malke]

Malke,
Thanks for your help in this matter, i really dont know who i or it
happened? i have formatted my pc many times without anything like this
happening before. If say for instance, i wanted to created a note pad
document on my desktop, i right click choose note pad, it comes out
with new text document.TXT same with word, it comes New Microsoft Word
Document.doc basically, everything i have on my right click, has a
command after the . (dot) and if i delete that .command, it doesnt
recognised the format and i cant use it? its not annoying or anything,
i just wondered how or why after all this time, it has decided to
appear like this? when the time comes that i do find it annoying i
will just format the pc, but i dont fancy doing that just yet, if i
can find a way of rectifying this little hic cup without formatting?

It just sounds to me like you have the option to see all extensions
turned on. This is done in the Folder Options applet in Control Panel
and is is a Good Thing. Windows usually comes with file extensions (the
three letters after the dot in a file name, which tell Windows what
program is associated with that type of file) hidden by default. It's
good to not hide these extensions because one of the ways that virus
writers trick people is to offer a file that appears to be
"picture.jpg", which would just be an image file. But with the file
extensions unhidden, you would see that the file is really something
like "picture.jpg.exe", which is not an image file but an executable.
In this scenario, it would be a virus program. When you double-clicked
it thinking you were opening a picture, you would really be running a
virus and your computer would now be infected.

It also does not sound like you are making shortcuts. A shortcut is a
link to a file, not the file itself. Certainly nothing you are
describing would warrant a format/install of Windows. You might
consider buying yourself a book like "Windows XP For Dummies". The "For
Dummies" books have an unfortunate name, but are actually very good to
teach about Windows.

I hope this has helped. If you need more information, please don't
hesitate to post back to this thread.

Malke

 

[Alex Nichol]

Can anyone advise me on why some of my shortcuts are coming up with the .exe and the .txt at the end of the shortcut?
i have tried to delete the .exe & .txt but then it says changing the format it wont run properly.

You may have damaged the association of lnkfiles (shortcuts) - perhaps
misguidedly trying to get rid of the arrows by removing an IsShortCut.

For safety, redo the association in full - go to
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/xp_fixes.html
and use File Association fix , near bottom on left