Shortcuts and Special Folders

An interesting fact about shortcuts! There are actually 2 types of shortcut, the “user” type virtual pointer shortcut we created above, and the CLSID (“special folder”) shortcut. Windows allows for the creation of special items by their CLSID to add extra features to aid in navigation. As an example, the “My Computer” icon on the desktop is not actually a shortcut – it does not have a small arrow, and it has its own distinct options in the context menu when you right click on it (compared to normal shortcuts, which all have identical options in the context menu). So what is this CLSID? A CLSID is a unique identifier for a special part of the operating system that Windows understands it should treat differently. In this case, the “My Computer” shortcut relates to a CLSID that tells Windows to open the “My Computer” window, and to provide different context menu options when right clicked. As a practical demonstration, right click on the desktop, move to the “New” menu and select “Folder” (Windows 95, 98 and NT users can just select “New Folder” from the top-level menu). Name the folder as follows:

System Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Note the single space between “System” and “Panel”, and the full stop between “Panel” and the left brace. Press return, and your folder will be created. It is a folder with an interesting difference though – double click it and you will end up in Control Panel!