How does one stop shortcut creation in windows explorer?

[bookmark54]

I noticed a really annoying "feature" in Windows 7. When you click the folder icon in the navigation area of Windows Explorer (at the top - next to the three arrows), sometimes you get the actual path (I want that to be the default, but since Vista it's not) and sometimes you get a shortcut created in the folder you're in. I never want that behavior. How can I stop it from creating a shortcut (I otherwise WANT to create shortcuts, but never that way.) I want to control the text in the navigation window to ALWAYS show the real path (C:\My Games), for example, instead of some useless representation (Computer > Local Disk ( C: ) > My Games), which is the current default. Please show me the way!

 

[The_Prophecy]

In the View tab of the Folder Options window, there is a check box labeled Display the full path in the title bar. Applies to the Classic Theme only though. If you're running Aero, it won't display that way.

 

[bookmark54]

Even in the classic theme, with the "Display full path" checked, I get the following displayed in the top for c:\TMP : "Computer > Local Disk (C: ) > TMP >" with down arrows instead of greater-than but I didn't know how to represent a down-arrow...
I only want to see C:\TMP displayed. When I click the yellow folder on the left there, it sometimes creates an unnecessary shortcut which I always then am compelled to delete. Is there any other way?

 

[Zoron]

I'm really not sure how you're getting shortcuts... I can click until I'm blue in the face and I don't see any shortcuts. If you want a different look to your file manager, you'll have to download something else... there is no way to change the Windows explorer to look like XP's or earlier. I think you can actually download an earlier version of Window's file manager and use it if you prefer, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

 

[sminlal]

What you're describing isn't a "shortcut" in the same sense that's usually used (ie, a ".lnk" file), but rather a "feature" of the new Explorer that allows you to quickly navigate to any parent folder of the current path (by clicking the folder name) or to any of it's subfolders (by clicking the down-arrow). It's unique to the Explorer address bar.

There's no way I know of to turn it off. If you click in the blank space to the right of the path then it will turn into a conventional path starting with a drive letter. And if you right-click anywhere in the folder names or down-arrows you can choose to copy the folder name to the clipboard as a conventional path, even though the address bar itself is still showing the folder name "buttons" and "arrows".

The new format of the address bar was one of the things that annoyed me about Windows 7, but after using it for a month or so I've actually grew quite fond of it. It makes it very fast to navigate to parent folders, and it's no more difficult to cut/paste a path from the address bar to some other window.

But I still decry the complete waste of space in Explorer's title bar. It takes me about 3X as much vertical space to arrange cascaded Explorer windows so that I can see what path each one has.

 

[Detaill]

If you are refering to the display of recently opened programs on the start menu as a short cuts you can turn this feature off by right clicking the start menu icon open properties and uncheck the box for that feature. If I'm way off base , well I tried.

 

[bookmark54]

Thanks everyone, I think sminlal was the closest. Yes, in Vista you can click on the left for the effect I wanted, now in Windows 7 it's on the right. You may think I'm nuts to want the explicit path printed out, but I use 2 Explorer windows and for 2 machines with identical (long) path names, if I can copy+paste the entire path from one Win. Explorer window to another, all I have to do is change the drive letter in the second window to copy files from one host to the other (possibly a dumb way to do it but I like it). I do appreciate the help!

 

[sminlal]

You can still do that with the new Explorer. As I mentioned above, you can right-click on the path in one window and select "copy address as text". Once you have the path in the paste buffer, then in the other window you can right-click the icon to the left of the path or the blank space to the right of the path and select "paste", after which you can use the normal text editing keys to change the path.

 

[melliott]

I believe what bookmark54 is referring to is the shortcut that's often accidentally created when you click on the icon to the left in the Windows Explorer address bar when using Windows 7.

Earlier versions of Windows simply allowed selecting of the full path for copy/paste, and in fact Windows 7 allows the same thing.

*** It's just that now in Windows 7, if you happen to barely move your mouse during the click, you get an automatically created shortcut to the current path placed in it's own directory (which of course shows up in the right pane of Windows Explorer when viewing folders in the left pane.)*** The solution will probably be an update that excludes the address bar area as a drag-n-drop target area in Windows Explorer in a future release.

Like bookmark54, I'm inclined to keep things clean so I'm compelled to delete the new shortcut, but it's rather annoying.

Sounds like the solution is to simply click on the address bar anywhere in the empty space *TO THE RIGHT* of folders listed to select the current path for copy/paste needs.

That's a workable solution. Thanks!!!!

 

[bookmark54]

Thanks, melliott, that's exactly what I meant!

I also dislike the fact I have to now click in the Windows Explorer area (every time) to get the full path. Since I use this all the time, this is also annoying - you'd think showing the full path would be the default!

 

[Groovejets]

Thanks guys this is a huge help (clicking on the right) I never thought of it. This issue has been driving me round the bend as I also like to keep things neat and constantly have to delete shortcuts auto created as I fly about the Explorer interface.