From the June 2009 Issue of Prestwood eMag

Windows Vista: How to setup a shortcut in Vista By Mike Prestwood

Posted 16 years ago on 6/10/2008 and updated 6/1/2009 Take Away: To create a shortcut, right click on the deskop and select New | Shortcut. The old ways of altering the properties or even copying existing shortcuts is now very limited. KB101175

Setting up a shortcut in Vista changed. In previous versions of Windows you could simply right click a shortcut and select Properties or Copy and then Paste. Those options no longer get you full access to the shortcut settings. The following is how I create shortcuts in Vista:

1. Right click on the desktop and select New | Shortcut.
    
   
    
2. The Create Shortcut wizard starts. Select the executable you wish to create a shortcut for and select Next.
    
   
    
3. Type in a name for the shortcut and select Next. I chose "Paradox 11 PrivB" and the following shortcut was created on my desktop. You can now drag that shortcut onto the Start menu, but before you do, right click on the shortcut and select Properties.
    
   
    
4. You can now set all the properties of a shortcut just like you could in previous versions of Windows including adding startup commands and Run as administrator. However, if you choose Run as administrator and you have user control turned on, you may get the dreaded "An unidentifed program wants access to your computer" implemented with Vista's user control settings.

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KB Post Contributed By Mike Prestwood:

Mike Prestwood is a drummer, an author, and creator of the PrestwoodBoards online community. He is the President & CEO of Prestwood IT Solutions. Prestwood IT provides Coding, Website, and Computer Tech services. Mike has authored 6 computer books and over 1,200 articles. As a drummer, he maintains play-drums.com and has authored 3 drum books. If you have a project you wish to discuss with Mike, you can send him a private message through his PrestwoodBoards home page or call him 9AM to 4PM PST at 916-726-5675 x205. Visit Profile