For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
Hello everybody,
my dad's PC (WIN98/SE) came up with a problem: the links are no longer recognized as links. Not Internet links: FILE LINKS! All the links (except for Explorer, that is not a link) on the desktop now show the generic Windows icon; the little arrow in the lower corner (characteristic of the links) has disappeared; and the extension .LNK or ..PIF (for DOS applications), normally hidden, is now visible. If you click on any link, the window that asks you to choose the application to be used to open that file pops up: but it does not refer to the APPLICATION file, it refers to the LINK! This means that what went lost is not the association between a file and the application used to open it (as sometimes may happen), but something at a lower level: the association between .LNK and .PIF files and the system. If you launch directly the executable file of the application from START|RUN, it opens regularly like always: another proof that what went lost is just the capability to execute the LINKS, not the applications. How to get out of this? We have at our disposal another machine with WIN98/SE, should any file need to be copied from a working system. Thank you everybody for your help. |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
Paolo wrote:
Hello everybody, my dad's PC (WIN98/SE) came up with a problem: the links are no longer recognized as links. Not Internet links: FILE LINKS! All the links (except for Explorer, that is not a link) on the desktop now show the generic Windows icon; the little arrow in the lower corner (characteristic of the links) has disappeared; and the extension .LNK or .PIF (for DOS applications), normally hidden, is now visible. If you click on any link, the window that asks you to choose the application to be used to open that file pops up: but it does not refer to the APPLICATION file, it refers to the LINK! This means that what went lost is not the association between a file and the application used to open it (as sometimes may happen), but something at a lower level: the association between .LNK and .PIF files and the system. If you launch directly the executable file of the application from START|RUN, it opens regularly like always: another proof that what went lost is just the capability to execute the LINKS, not the applications. How to get out of this? We have at our disposal another machine with WIN98/SE, should any file need to be copied from a working system. Thank you everybody for your help. Is the problem less than 5 days old? In that case try a registry restore. "How to Manually Restore the Windows 98/Me Registry" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221512 Choose the backup from before the problem arrived. |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
"Paolo" wrote in message ... Hello everybody, If you click on any link, If You? --------- If you launch directly If You? ---------- How to get out of this? Tale a deep breath.... |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
Sorry can`t help but they are refered to as short cuts not links.
-- I`m not a complete idiot, there`s still a few bits missing Tale a deep breath.... LOL |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
Hi Paolo,
If Ingeborg's suggestion of restoring the previous registry does not work for you, download this zip file: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/assets/images/LnkW98.zip from MVP Ron Badour's web page: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/reg_files.html Unzip the .reg file in the .zip file to your Desktop, then right-click the .reg file, click "Merge" on the menu that appears, then OK to the confirmation message. That will repair the .LNK association. If you need to also repair the .PIF association, let me know and I will upload a .reg file for that to my web space, and post a link. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm "Paolo" wrote in message ... Hello everybody, my dad's PC (WIN98/SE) came up with a problem: the links are no longer recognized as links. Not Internet links: FILE LINKS! All the links (except for Explorer, that is not a link) on the desktop now show the generic Windows icon; the little arrow in the lower corner (characteristic of the links) has disappeared; and the extension .LNK or .PIF (for DOS applications), normally hidden, is now visible. If you click on any link, the window that asks you to choose the application to be used to open that file pops up: but it does not refer to the APPLICATION file, it refers to the LINK! This means that what went lost is not the association between a file and the application used to open it (as sometimes may happen), but something at a lower level: the association between .LNK and .PIF files and the system. If you launch directly the executable file of the application from START|RUN, it opens regularly like always: another proof that what went lost is just the capability to execute the LINKS, not the applications. How to get out of this? We have at our disposal another machine with WIN98/SE, should any file need to be copied from a working system. Thank you everybody for your help. |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 11:29:58 -0000, "kimbo_"
wrote: Sorry can`t help but they are refered to as short cuts not links. Well, sorry for that, but the Italian name they are referred to is translated "LINK" in English. Apart of this, any suggestion? Thank you Ingeborg, I'll try it ASAP. |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
They may be referred to as Shortcuts in English, but the filetype is
"lnkfile" with the (hidden) extension LNK. LNK is short for LINK. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm "kimbo_" wrote in message ... Sorry can`t help but they are refered to as short cuts not links. -- I`m not a complete idiot, there`s still a few bits missing Tale a deep breath.... LOL |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:57:38 GMT, Paolo put finger
to keyboard and composed: the extension .LNK or .PIF (for DOS applications), normally hidden, is now visible. FWIW I have intentionally set up my PC to display the extensions of all my .lnk and .pif files. Maybe I'm paranoid but I suspect malware could hide inside an innocent looking file such as filename.txt(.pif). - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
On Fri, 3 Nov 2006 08:58:28 -0500, "glee"
wrote: Hi Paolo, If Ingeborg's suggestion of restoring the previous registry does not work for you, download this zip file: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/assets/images/LnkW98.zip from MVP Ron Badour's web page: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/reg_files.html Unzip the .reg file in the .zip file to your Desktop, then right-click the .reg file, click "Merge" on the menu that appears, then OK to the confirmation message. That will repair the .LNK association. If you need to also repair the .PIF association, let me know and I will upload a .reg file for that to my web space, and post a link. Glen, there is a problem: when I right-click on that file, there isn't any "MERGE" option available. This isn't a mere question of language (my WIN98 is italian): there isn't any option that would mean "merge" in Italian. There are the usual options of always: copy-cut-paste etc... What do I do? Sorry for crossposting, if it's OK for you to keep this discussion in microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion or any other, I will quit the others. Thank you. |
For The REAL Expert... Win 98 does not know how to handle LINKS any longer :-(
Except in extraordinary (and temporary) circumstances, Show All Files should
always be enabled and Hide Extensions should always be DISabled. In fact, with one exception (Show pop-up descriptions) I always change Win98's folder options for Files & Folders to exactly the opposite of duhfaults. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm "Franc Zabkar" wrote in message ... On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:57:38 GMT, Paolo put finger to keyboard and composed: the extension .LNK or .PIF (for DOS applications), normally hidden, is now visible. FWIW I have intentionally set up my PC to display the extensions of all my .lnk and .pif files. Maybe I'm paranoid but I suspect malware could hide inside an innocent looking file such as filename.txt(.pif). - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. |
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