How to Prevent "Shortcut to" Prefix from Being Added to New Shortcuts

1)Right Click any file you may wish to create a shortcut to send to desktop.
2)Right-click the shortcut, and then click Rename. Delete the prefix "shortcut to".
3)Right Click again of the same file and create another shortcut to send to desktop.

You will see the 2nd shortcut created is without the prefix "shortcut to".
Delete both created shortcut and repeat step 3 to confirm . You should have the shortcut created without the prefix "shortcut" and an any other file shortcut creation hence onward.




From Microsoft as reproduced:

Method 1: Rename a Shortcut Five Times
Right-click the My Computer icon, and then click Create Shortcut. This places a shortcut named "Shortcut to My Computer" on the desktop.
Right-click the shortcut, and then click Rename.
Rename the "Shortcut to My Computer" file to "My Computer."
Delete the "My Computer" shortcut.
Repeat steps 1 through 4 four times. The sixth time you create the shortcut, the "Shortcut to" prefix is not added.
NOTE: You do not have to use My Computer to create the shortcut. You can use any file, folder, drive, computer, or printer. To restore the "Shortcut to" prefix, delete the registry key listed in method 3 and then restart the computer.
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Method 2: For Windows 95 and Windows 98 Use the Tweak UI PowerToys Tool
Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click the TweakUI icon.
On the Explorer tab, click to clear the Prefix 'Shortcut to' on new shortcuts check box, and then click OK.
Restart the computer.
For Windows 98, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base for information about obtaining TweakUI:
190643 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190643/EN-US/ ) How to Install and Uninstall the TweakUI Tool in Windows 98
NOTE: Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) do not include TweakUI. For additional information about this issue, refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
237920 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237920/EN-US/ ) TweakUI Not on Windows 98 SE or Windows Me CD-ROMs
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Method 3: Edit the Registry
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Start Registry Editor.
Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Modify the data value of the Link value to be 00 00 00 00.

NOTE: For Windows 95, the Link value does not exist by default. Create the Link value as a Binary value, with a data value of 00 00 00 00.
Restart the computer.
To implement this change for all users on a computer with user profiles enabled, modify the Link value in the following registry keys:
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

HKEY_USERS\username\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
To restore the "Shortcut to" prefix, delete the Link value.

Related Articles: Remove shortcut Icon Arrow & Shortcut suffix for new shortcuts

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