Start...Games.. problem

[Panic]

I figured when you click on Start...Games....that you were looking at a
Folder containing games. I have a URL shortcut to play a game on an
internet site. I right clicked it and drug it into my Games "Folder?".
It's there all right. It won't run from there and I can't find a way to
delete it from GAMES. I can highlight it and try to delete it but all those
options are grayed out. I can drag it out of Games to my desktop but the
only option available is to paste a shortcut. Anyone know how I can delete
that Icon/shortcut from GAMES?

It's not causing any problem other than just being viewed in GAMES when it
doesn't work.

 

[Jim]

I figured when you click on Start...Games....that you were looking at a
Folder containing games. I have a URL shortcut to play a game on an
internet site. I right clicked it and drug it into my Games "Folder?".
It's there all right. It won't run from there and I can't find a way to
delete it from GAMES. I can highlight it and try to delete it but all those
options are grayed out. I can drag it out of Games to my desktop but the
only option available is to paste a shortcut. Anyone know how I can delete
that Icon/shortcut from GAMES?

It's not causing any problem other than just being viewed in GAMES when it
doesn't work.

Try deleting in safe mode .

 

[KCB]

I figured when you click on Start...Games....that you were looking at a
Folder containing games. I have a URL shortcut to play a game on an
internet site. I right clicked it and drug it into my Games "Folder?".
It's there all right. It won't run from there and I can't find a way to
delete it from GAMES. I can highlight it and try to delete it but all
those options are grayed out. I can drag it out of Games to my desktop
but the only option available is to paste a shortcut. Anyone know how I
can delete that Icon/shortcut from GAMES?

It's not causing any problem other than just being viewed in GAMES when it
doesn't work.

I think you're actually looking at the sum of 2 folders. That would be the
Games folder under your account name, and the Games folder under All Users.
When I right-click the Games folder in my Start menu, I have the options to
"open", or to "open all users". Try deleting it directly from the open
folder that it is in, instead of through the Start Menu. Good Luck.

 

[Panic]

Safe mode delete didn't work. Any other ideas?

Try deleting in safe mode .

 

[Panic]

Hmmm? If I click Start...then right click GAMES the only option I have is
OPEN (Rename is also there, grayed out..but it works). In Explore..under
Users... there is no All Users option..there is Administrator (which is
empty).. and Public (which has lots of stuff under it) Any other ideas?

 

[Dave-UK]

Hmmm? If I click Start...then right click GAMES the only option I have is
OPEN (Rename is also there, grayed out..but it works). In Explore..under
Users... there is no All Users option..there is Administrator (which is
empty).. and Public (which has lots of stuff under it) Any other ideas?

The Games folder is a special folder and by dragging a shortcut
into it you have written an entry into the registry.
Open Regedit and go here:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX
and in that key should be a sub-key starting with your SID number, something
like ' S-1-5-21-2359785600-3952781633........'.
In that key will be another randomly named key with your shortcut details.
Right-click that key and select 'Export', give it a name and save to your Desktop.
(That's just a backup.)
Then right-click and delete the key.
If you want to reverse the deletion, right-click the saved reg file and select 'Merge'.
When you are happy that it's fixed you can delete the saved reg file.

 

[Panic]

I must have screwed something up, Dave. I found the key right where you
said it was. However, since I was not familiar with exporting just a key, I
exported my entire registry to my desktop. Then I deleted that key
referencing the golf game in my GAMES folder. I exited regedit and
rebooted. That unusable Golf icon was still in my games folder. I opened
regedit and went to that same area and the golf entry was gone but it still
is showing up in my GAMES folder. Just to check I imported the registry I
had saved on my desktop, rebooted, opened regedit, and found that golf entry
was still gone. Hmm. Did I make an error?

I did a FIND for golf and found numerous entries which had the letters golf
imbedded but I hesitate to try to delete them. Any ideas.

 

[Panic]

Dave, as an add-on to my last post I note that the label Golf has
disappeared but the golf icon itself is still showing in my Games folder.

 

[Dave-UK]

Dave, as an add-on to my last post I note that the label Golf has
disappeared but the golf icon itself is still showing in my Games folder.

On my system if that key is deleted then the icon goes.
I've got a couple of folders with games stuff:
(First you need to make sure hidden files are showing)
Open any folder Tools > Folder options > View
Select 'Show hidden files,folders....'

C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Games
and here:
C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer

Have you looked there?

 

[Seth]

Dave, as an add-on to my last post I note that the label Golf has
disappeared but the golf icon itself is still showing in my Games folder.

Did you delete the entire Key? Or just the Data and Value? Sounds like you
just deleted the Data and value.

Remember, Keys are in the left pane in REGEDIT. Data and Value are in the
right pane. Data in the left column and Value in the right.

Spunds like you only delete the description data leaving the rest of the
references for the icon in tact.

 

[Panic]

You were right, Seth. I found golf.exe in the right area and deleted that.
Didn't work. Following your instructions I went back into regedit and
deleted the key in the left hand area. Works fine now. I'm rid of that
unusable game icon in my Games folder. Thanks a lot. And I saved your info
for future reference.

 

[Seth]

You were right, Seth. I found golf.exe in the right area and deleted
that. Didn't work. Following your instructions I went back into regedit
and deleted the key in the left hand area. Works fine now. I'm rid of
that unusable game icon in my Games folder. Thanks a lot. And I saved
your info for future reference.

No problem. What Dave wrote earlier was correct. Its just sometimes we
forget that most people don't fully realize the nomenclature within REGEDIT.
Keys on the left, Data and Values on the right.

 

[Dave-UK]

No problem. What Dave wrote earlier was correct. Its just sometimes we forget that most people
don't fully realize the nomenclature within REGEDIT. Keys on the left, Data and Values on the
right.

I wonder why the system allows you to create a non-working short-cut.
And make it impossible to delete, using normal methods.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I wonder why the system allows you to create a non-working short-cut.
And make it impossible to delete, using normal methods.

I have been prevented from making a non-working shortcut, but sometimes
I have had orphaned shortcuts, where they were made invalid by a change
somewhere else. Often the change was uninstalling a program; on
occasion those were shortcuts made by me, not the original installer,
but some programs don't uninstall all of their own shortcuts. It has
also happened when I moved a program or other object to a different
folder.