XP - shortcuts stopped working

[gEOFF]

Abruptly with no signs of other problems, shortcuts stopped working.
Including desktop short cuts and also "My Documents" and "Recent Documents"
short cuts on the Task Bar. Computer appears to be working (hourglass) but
nothing happens. Opening files directly from an application works fine. I
run corporate edition Symantec on this computer (home computer) for virus
protection; no sign of virus problems. Anyone have an idea what's going on
and how to fix?

 

[Elmo]

Abruptly with no signs of other problems, shortcuts stopped working.
Including desktop short cuts and also "My Documents" and "Recent Documents"
short cuts on the Task Bar. Computer appears to be working (hourglass) but
nothing happens. Opening files directly from an application works fine. I
run corporate edition Symantec on this computer (home computer) for virus
protection; no sign of virus problems. Anyone have an idea what's going on
and how to fix?

It could be malware, I guess, but try the LNK fix here first:

Fix File Associations.
http://dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm