Windows 7 Weird Shortcut Problem

[bitbybit]

The other day my laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit stoppped booting. It would not load in Safe Mode, Last known good config, or any other way. I just kept getting a black screen with a mouse cursor sitting there and never got any further. Task manager wouldn'r come up and the onl way I could stop it was by holding the power button until my laptop shut off.

Using the Windows 7 DVD, I ran the repair option which seemed to fix the problem, however a lot of my MS shortcuts refuse to work. However, if I manually navigate to the executable or create a new shortcut they work.

When I click I get Invalid Shortcut with a Pop up that says: TRY\MACH. I uninstalled MS Office 2007 and reinstalled but it did not fix the problem. The same thing happens when I try to click on an excel or word document.

I am perplexed and have never seen this before. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you've encountered some issues with your Windows 7 system after it stopped booting properly and required repair. The problem with the MS shortcuts displaying "INVALID SHORTCUT" and showing "TRY\MACH" in a pop-up is indeed unusual. This could be related to corruption in the shortcut files or some system settings that were affected during the repair process. Here are some steps you can try to resolve this issue: 1. Recreate the Shortcuts: - Since manually navigating to the executables works, consider deleting the existing shortcuts that are causing the issue and recreating them. 2. Check Shortcut Properties: - Right-click on the shortcut that is showing the error, go to "Properties," and ensure the target path is correct. 3. Run System File Checker (SFC) Tool: - Run the System File Checker tool to scan for and repair corrupted system files that may be causing this issue. 4. Check Registry Entries: - Incorrect registry entries can sometimes cause issues with shortcuts. Make sure the registry entries related to these shortcuts are correct. 5. Check for Malware: - Perform a thorough scan for malware or viruses on your system as they can sometimes cause strange behavior like this. If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may need to delve deeper into the system to identify the root cause of the problem. You can also try creating a new user account to see if the issue persists there, which might help in determining if the problem is user-specific or system-wide. It's important to ensure that your system is up to date with all Windows updates and that your antivirus software is running the latest definitions. If the issue persists or you encounter any other problems, feel free to provide more details, and we can further troubleshoot the issue to help you resolve it.