Tuesday, December 23, 2014

keyboard shortcuts - Windows 10 Start-Search not behaving well

I've made a habit of making a 'Search Helpers' folder and dropping it in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Search Helpers. I fill this folder with shortcut icons to make Start-Search more efficient for me, but Windows 10 update has caused problems.


In there I add 4 flavors of shortcuts.



  • App short cuts with shorter names than standard, so I can type faster (i.e. 'VS2015', then just typing 'VS' in Start-Search pulls that instead of having to type 'Visual Studio...'). So I just copy shortcuts from standard start menu folder and rename them, or create shortcuts to custom applications I've built with .NET and put in folder.

  • Favorite folder shortcuts in the format of 'go*' where * is name. i.e. goRSApp1 would go to default folder on my Rackspace Application Server #1. These shortcuts actually run a *.vbs script passing in desired folder location...probably better way to do it, but it works. The short cut is just a standard windows shortcut to the *.vbs file, but then I alter the command of shortcut to something like: "C:\BTR\PowerToys\VBScript Files\Open Folder.vbs" folder:"\\192.168.100.130\c$\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\Library\BTRTools"

  • Remote Desktop shortcuts in the format of 'r*' where * is server. i.e. rRSApp1 would open RDP to Rackspace Application Server #1. I just 'save' the RDP settings to a directory in My Documents then create a shortcut to that file.

  • Common URL shortcuts that I always hit (I just drag shortcut icon from browser address bar into the folder and name it to a short/quick name that I can use).


My problems with Start-Search are the following items are no longer 'found':



  1. No longer allows me to type r* shortcuts for RDP

  2. A 'handful' of the application shortcuts do not work (although some still do, can't figure out pattern of why some would work and some wouldn't)

  3. URL short cuts are never found

  4. A benefit I accidentally discovered in Win 8.1 is I could do 'first letter' searches, so with a shortcut of 'Data Updater', I could type 'D U' and it would find that. That no longer works.


Thanks in advance.

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