WindowsXP Shortcut Tips

55. Fun With Shortcuts 1: Shortcuts to Email

Here's something you might not have know you can do with shortcuts. Got one or more people you email all the time? Of course you do. So create a shortcut to send them an email. One click of the shortcut (or even a key combination, see tip 62) and your default mail program will open up a message to that person, pre-addressed and ready to send.

To make an email shortcut right click an empty area of the desktop or folder where you wish to create the shortcut and hit 'new\shortcut.'

Once the shortcut wizard comes up, type 'mailto:(the email address you want to send to)' Click 'next' and give the shortcut a name. From now on, clicking your new shortcut will open up an email to that recipient.

56. Fun with Shortcuts 2: Shortcuts to Web Sites

In much the same fashion as the above tip, you can also create desktop shortcuts to your favourite web sites. To do this right click an empty area of the desktop or folder where you wish to create the shortcut and hit 'new\shortcut.'

Once the shortcut wizard comes up, type the URL (www.pcstats.com) and click 'next' then give your shortcut a name. From now on, opening the shortcut will open your default web browser to the page you specified.

57. Fun with Shortcuts 3: Shortcuts to Windows Control Panels and Utilities

You can also use desktop shortcuts to launch specific Windows utilities and control panels that would otherwise require a fair amount of clicking through the GUI to access.

Here's some good examples:

Simply create a new shortcut then copy and paste the information below into the 'location' box of the shortcut.

To create a shortcut to system settings: rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL sysdm.cpl
To create a shortcut to shared folder list: Rundll32.exe ntlanui.dll,ShareManag
To create a shortcut to display options: rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl

Computer management window: compmgmt.msc
Device manager: devmgmt.msc
Storage manager: diskmgmt.msc
Event viewer: eventvwr.msc
Group policies: gpedit.msc
Services: services.msc