Classic Shell: Forum

My understanding (and experience) is that, in Win 7, assigning Short cut keys to links on the Desktop does almost nothing (see below): that for Win 7 to see them, they have to be defined in Recently opened programs.

If the above is correct, perhaps Classic Shell should add the ability to have short cut keys assigned to Desktop shortcuts work all the time.

My experience is that shortcut keys assigned to Desktop icons only work for the first few minutes after starting Win 7.

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...chris

I don't have problems with shortcuts in Windows 7.
Is it possible the problem is caused by AutoIt? I am not using it myself, but it looks like the kind of program that may be twiddling with hotkeys.

For me, shortcut keys for links on the desktop work as long as I am logged in. Is there a specific way to reproduce the Windows issue you describe where shortcut keys for desktop shortcuts stop working?

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

AutoIt does have the ability to set hot keys, but I am not using that feature. Hot keys in Desktop icons/shortcuts worked fine in XP.

I will think about how to test hot keys ceasing to work.

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...chris

W7's native shortcut keys have the form Ctl+Alt+<Key>. To start with, once defined, they will only work if in a folder in the Startup folder chain. In my system, I created such a new folder: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Hotkeys(Ctl+Alt). In this folder, Revo Uninstaller's shortcut will launch when I press Ctl+Alt+R. Given this, I Copied the Revo Uninstaller shortcut to my Desktop, where its Ctl+Alt+R hotkey remained intact. Then I *Deleted* the Revo shortcut from my Hotkeys(Ctl+Alt) folder, and rebooted.

After reboot, there remained *only* the Revo shortcut on my Desktop, and Ctl+Alt+R still worked to launch it.

I hope this answers your question. If not, I would appreciate a short WinXP tutorial on what you are after, as I do not recall any other WinXP Desktop-launch feature.

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Kind Regards,
Retired Engineer

There is no need to copy or do all this. All shortcuts inside the Start Menu folders and on the Desktop to which hotkeys are assigned work when that hotkey is pressed. If they're not working for you for some reason or stop working after a while, there may be a problematic program running on your machine that occasionally stops responding to messages.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

My convention is to assign Ctrl+Shft+<key> to a shortcut which does something within an application, and Ctrl+Shft+<key> to one that has wider scope in its actions.

In Windows 7, I have two input languages and three keyboard layouts defined. Recently, I have observed that pressing the / key in WordPerfect occasionally puts a e+acute into a document. When this happened, the keyboard layout had mysteriously changed to Canadian French. The Canadian French keyboard has e+acute on the key marked / ? on a US keyboard. So -- the keyboard layout was getting changed. I have Ctrl+Shft+S defined in WordPerfect: it executes a PerfectScript macro.

After a few days of this nonsense, I right-clicked on the Taskbar and chose to show the Language toolbar. EN appeared near the Notification Area.

I right-clicked on EN, and chose Settings, then clicked on Advanced language settings. This showed keys assigned to changing input language and keyboard layout Ctrl+Shft and Left Alt.

I suspect that at times, when I pressed Ctrl+Shft+S, I waited too long to press the S, so Windows thought I was telling it to change keyboard layout.

I clicked on Change key sequence and changed both key sequences to None. So far, my hot keys work and the keyboard layout has not changed.

Thank you for the forbearance!

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...chris