Shortcuts have disappeared from the desktop: reasons for the disappearance on Windows OS, ways to fix the problem. Creating a desktop shortcut for a Microsoft Office application How to place a program shortcut on the desktop
The Internet has become an integral part of every computer, and browsers are the main tool for interacting with worldwide network. Every active Internet user has his favorite sites, which he visits several times a day. Registering a website address several times every day is a procedure that takes a couple of seconds, but is very annoying. You can add a page of interest to your bookmarks, but there it risks getting lost among dozens of similar sites. There is a much simpler and more convenient way - to place a site shortcut on your desktop, and we will tell you how to do this.
Create a website shortcut on your desktop using a browser
Modern browsers have dozens of features that users are not even aware of. In the browser you can draw, type, play, read books and watch movies. Naturally, browser developers made sure that users could create a shortcut to their favorite site on their desktop, and do it as simply as possible.
Google Chrome
The most common browser is Google Chrome, which works great on computers of any power. Creating a website shortcut from Google Chrome is very simple:
Now when double click on the created shortcut, the browser will open with home page as the selected site.
Opera and Mozilla Firefox
The process of creating a desktop shortcut in Opera and browsers Mozilla Firefox practically no different from how it is done in Google Chrome. The only difference is the designation of the sign that you need to pull to transfer the shortcut to the desktop. If in Google browser In Chrome, the potential shortcut is made in the form of a sheet of paper with a curved edge, while in Opera and Mozilla it resembles a planet.
Create a site shortcut to your desktop using standard Windows features
The Windows operating system provides the ability to create shortcuts on the desktop not only for accessing programs that are often used, but also for websites. The process of creating a website shortcut on your desktop is very simple:
It should be noted that the program in which the created shortcut will open will depend on which browser is assigned as “Default” on the computer. If you think that the site shortcut is opening in the wrong browser, you should change the “Default” web browser.
We remind you that the icon of the created shortcut can simply be changed. To do this, right-click on the shortcut and select “Properties”. In the menu that opens there will be an option to “Change icon”. All that remains is to choose the option you like from the shortcuts offered by the system or set your own. 
How to change the default browser in Windows 10
Change the default browser in the operating room Windows system 10 is quite simple if you know the settings to access. First of all, make sure that the browser that you want to install as the main one is on your computer. Next, you need to follow simple instructions to change the “Default” browser in Windows 10:
After this, the shortcut that was created above will begin to launch in the selected browser. In addition, all links in text documents and other programs will open in the default browser.
I have Windows 8.1 installed on my laptop. I installed the program, but I don’t know where to launch it from, then I connected the scanner and installed the driver on it and now I can’t figure out how to add a scanner shortcut to the desktop, but I need to launch the scanner and work with it. no, I can’t imagine how to get to all the programs. Okay, people suggested that you first need to enter the initial screen of the Metro interface and launch all applications from there, but it’s inconvenient to constantly climb into the Metro interface to launch any program. Tell me, is there a way to add a shortcut? Windows applications 8 to the desktop and launch from the shortcut the desired program.
How to add a shortcut to your desktop
Hello friends. I'll show you three ways to create a shortcut on your desktop!
How to add shortcuts to your desktop Windows table 7
How to add shortcuts to the Windows 8 desktop
I agree with you, in previous operating systems everything was much simpler, for example, to add shortcut to desktop in the operating system you just had to click on the Start button, then, without pressing the mouse button, move the cursor to the All programs menu,
a list of programs will open, then we right-click once on the folder of the program we need and go to this folder, select the program icon and right-click on it, a menu will open in which you need to select Send, a submenu will open, in it select Desktop (create label).
That's it, the shortcut to the program we need is on the desktop.
Friends, first of all, this is how you can immediately add five shortcuts to the most important elements of the user interface to your desktop Microsoft Windows 8 (Computer, User Files, Network, Control Panel, Recycle Bin).
Right-click on an empty space on the desktop and select Personalization
Changing desktop icons
We tick the icons we need. Apply and OK.
The most important shortcuts are now on the desktop
How to add shortcuts installed programs to Windows 8 desktop
Do not forget the fact that when installed on a computer, any program asks you - dear User, can I add a shortcut to your desktop? So, if you allow it, the program will immediately add its shortcut to your desktop.
If, when installing the program, you missed this point (this often happens to me), then we proceed like this.
Click the mouse in the lower left corner and go to the “Metro” interface,
Click on the arrow
And go to the “All applications” window, find the icon of the program we need and right-click on it, a menu will open, in it you need to select “Open file location”,
Right-click on the file and select Send, a submenu will open, in it select Desktop (create shortcut)
And our shortcut is already on the desktop.
If in this menu Select "Pin to Start Screen"
The shortcut will be added to the initial screen of the Metro interface.
Another way to add a shortcut to your desktop
Friends, let’s create a toolbar and use it to add a shortcut to the program we need on the desktop. Right-click on the taskbar and select Panels-->Create toolbar.
in the window that appears " New panel Tools - Select Folder", select the Program Files or Program Files (x86) folder and click on the Select Folder button.
A Program Files or Program Files (x86) button appears on the taskbar.
Let's use this button to add a shortcut Opera browser to the desktop. We move the mouse over the Program Files button and click on the double arrow with the left mouse, the entire list of programs located in our Windows 8 will open in the Program Files folder, select the Opera folder, then right-click on executable file opera.exe and select Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut) from the menu.
Good day! There are situations when you visit one or more sites very often, and a link to it should be at hand. And preferably on the desktop. Some people use alternative ways saving links by adding them to favorites in your favorite browser. But it’s better to use several methods, it’s both more practical and faster.
The method that we will consider has a small advantage, it is that it is on the desktop, you click on it several times and the browser automatically starts opening the desired site. This is undoubtedly convenient, the only request is that you don’t clutter up your desktop with website shortcuts, it’s better to create a folder for these same shortcuts and put them there. And windows will work more stable and faster and you won’t get lost in search desired shortcut. Unless of course you have a lot of them.
If you have one site shortcut on your desktop or several, then I think you won’t get lost.
So, in this article I would like to talk about how to create a website shortcut on the desktop with two in simple ways, literally in two or three mouse clicks. Let's figure it out.
How to create a website shortcut on your desktop by dragging the shortcut
This method is the simplest and fastest. Open your browser, if you don’t have it open, go to the desired site, make the browser window smaller so that the desktop is visible. You can minimize the browser to a window in two ways: double-click on the active window or click on the minimize window button.
The icon is available in almost all modern browsers.
This is what the icon looks like in the browser Internet Explorer:
Google Chrome browser icon:
Icon in Mozilla browser Firefox:
There is no such icon in the Yandex Browser; there you just need to select the site link and drag it to the desktop.
APPLICABLE FOR ANY BROWSER: Select the site link in the address bar, grab the selected link with the left mouse button and drag it to the desktop. The effect is the same as pulling the icon on the site.
To create a site shortcut on your desktop, click on the icon next to the site address and without letting go, drag it to the desktop, release the mouse button, a shortcut with the name of the site should appear.
How to create a website shortcut on your desktop using the standard method.
The second method is no less popular than the first and also leads to positive emotions and results. 🙂 Only it’s a little more complicated. Let's get started.
Step 1. In the browser address bar select and copy the link of the desired site, to the clipboard. Or you remember.
Step 2. In an empty area of the desktop, right-click from the contextual menu select New > Shortcut
Step 3. In the window that opens paste the website address you copied earlier, or type from memory. Press the button Next.
For example, let's display a Word shortcut on the desktop.
Press the Start button 1. Then move the cursor (without clicking the mouse buttons) over the All Programs 2 menu. A list of programs installed on your computer opens. Follow the arrow to go to this list and hover over the folder you need - Microsoft Office 3 .
A list of programs included in Microsoft Office will open. Move the cursor to the program we need:
Microsoft Office Word 2003 4
Now, hovering the cursor over Microsoft Office Word 2003, press the right mouse button.
It will open before you context menu.
Releasing the right mouse button, move the cursor to the Send 5 item, a submenu will open on the right, in which you select Desktop ( create shortcut) 6 and press the left mouse button.
That's it, now you can admire the program shortcut that has appeared on your desktop and launch Microsoft Office Word using it.
If you do not find the program you need in the Windows Main Menu
But sometimes you cannot find the desired program in the main menu (someone accidentally or deliberately deleted the shortcut). Don't despair, the matter can be fixed. If the program is on the computer, then you need to find the program launching file and display a shortcut from it on the desktop.
For text editor Word path will be like this. By using Windows Explorer or file Total manager Commander, find the Program Files folder, in it - the Microsoft Office folder, then
open the OFFICE11 folder and find the WINWORD.exe file in it
On the found file, right-click to open the context menu, and then act
already proven method. Proceed the same way with any other program.
Find its folder in Program Files, then find the file that launches the program in the folder
(most often it has the extension .exe, but there are others). If you don’t immediately understand which file is launching, double-click it and try to launch it. If the program starts, then everything is correct, this is the main file. Display the shortcut from it on the desktop using the method
shown above.
Note: You cannot delete anything in the Program Files folder using the Delete button. Otherwise the program
which is located in this folder will stop working!
How to rename a desktop icon
If the name assigned to the shortcut Windows program, you don't like, for example, Shortcut for Word, then you can change it.
To do this, hover the cursor over the shortcut (icon), right-click to open the context menu and select Rename. Immediately the signature text under the label will be highlighted and you can remove the words “Shortcut for”, or completely rename the shortcut. After this, be sure to press the Enter key - only then will your name be saved.
Please note that such actions (rename, delete) can be performed only with shortcuts(they have a small black arrow in the lower left corner of the label). Files
programs located in their own folders in Program Files cannot be renamed! Otherwise they will stop working. You can only display shortcuts from them, and do what you want with the shortcuts!
How to display a website shortcut on your desktop
A site visitor asked me a question: " How to display a website shortcut on your desktop?". At first I thought that this made no sense, because links can be placed in Favorites. But after testing this option, I was convinced that this method of opening a site has a right to exist. After clicking on the shortcut, the web browser starts, and at the same time the site opens (two actions at the same time) How to create a shortcut on your desktop to your favorite site that you open every day? Since Internet Explorer is installed with Windows on any computer, let's create a shortcut using it.
So, open Internet Explorer and open the desired site in it. Now in the File menu move the cursor to the Send link, then to the right and click the link Shortcut to desktop. That's it, shortcut ( icon) is already on the desktop. You can check!
If shortcuts disappear from the desktop, the user experiences great inconvenience. Finding all programs through Start is very time-consuming and inconvenient. It is better to understand the causes of the problem and solve it. Mostly, the fix method is easy to use: adjusting the registry, desktop display, or using a special utility. Now let's talk about everything in order.
There are a couple of likely reasons why shortcuts have completely disappeared in Windows.
Desktop crash
A random system failure could well have caused all shortcuts to be erased from the desktop. It is possible that incorrect settings are being used or there was a failure during the process of installing updates or connecting a second monitor. Another common problem is the crash of the “Explorer” process, which is responsible for displaying the desktop.
Viruses
It is difficult to imagine an area of the system where a virus could not penetrate. In this case malware can delete shortcuts, rename them, or hide them. Any manifestation of viruses must be eliminated, but it makes sense to do this only after removing the malicious code.
How to restore shortcuts and icons on your desktop
Time to look at 4 main ways to return shortcuts to their rightful place in Windows.
Desktop Settings
The easiest option to solve is to simply turn off the display of shortcuts. Turning them on takes just a couple of seconds:
- right-click on the desktop;
- Hover your cursor over the “View” line and check the “Display desktop icons” checkbox.
System Restore
If your computer recently encountered a problem and has a restore point, you can roll back all recent changes. The only condition is that you have a disk with a Windows distribution.
How roll back Windows 10:
- insert a disk or flash drive with Windows;
- restart the computer, and at startup press F9 or another button to go to “ Boot menu"(the hint is at the bottom);
- select a device with Windows distribution to start;
- in the blue window with the “Install” button in the center of the screen, you need to select “System Restore”;
- in the next window, select “Diagnostics”, and then “System Restore”;
- select a suitable rollback point and activate it.
Using the registry
A couple of parameters control the display of shortcuts in the registry. It is worth checking that they are installed correctly and changing them if they are not installed correctly.
Algorithm of actions:
- press "Win + R" and enter "regedit";
- follow the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/Winlogon/";
- double click on "shell" and make sure that it is installed "explorer.exe";
