Office 2010 keeps creating a file on my desktop (win7)

MiCr0

Hi,
Somehow office 2010 keeps creating a short cut on my desktop to a Microsoft office 2010 guides site.

I know its not a virus or malware, but its driving me crazy.

Even if i remove the file, it'll be re-created the next time I open an office application.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
David

MiCr0

any thoughts?

Fysh

It might be helpful to know what the shortcut is called, and what site it's pointing to. I appreciate you don't want to promote them but it's going to be relevant for identifying fixes.

Have you tried searching for the URL it links to in the registry, and/or using Autoruns to check for anything suspect that might be creating the link? If so, what was the result?

boardtc

MiCr0 wrote: »

Hi,
Somehow office 2010 keeps creating a short cut on my desktop to a Microsoft office 2010 guides site.

I know its not a virus or malware, but its driving me crazy.

Even if i remove the file, it'll be re-created the next time I open an office application.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
David

I am seeing the exact same Office 2010 guides shortcut being annoyingly recreated on my desktop, immediately after it's deleted. I can't find any other mention on the net about this issue!

Fysh

boardtc wrote: »

I am seeing the exact same Office 2010 guides shortcut being annoyingly recreated on my desktop, immediately after it's deleted. I can't find any other mention on the net about this issue!

If you want help from people, you really need to provide more information, such as a screenshot of the shortcut icon or the path to which it points. Ideally you'd also use something like ProcessMonitor to track what happens when it's deleted.

Capt'n Midnight

check the properties of the file, change it to hidden

if however, you've set all hidden files to be visible globally this may not work

boardtc

Fysh wrote: »

If you want help from people, you really need to provide more information, such as a screenshot of the shortcut icon or the path to which it points. Ideally you'd also use something like ProcessMonitor to track what happens when it's deleted.

Ok. Not sure how this will help but...
screenshot: http://picturepush.com/public/12024496
path: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/getting-started-with-office-2010-FX101822272.aspx?CTT=97

Alun

If you run the Office 2010 installation program again, is there an option there to select / deselect the "Office 2010 Guides" anywhere in the list of installed components?

Fysh

boardtc wrote: »

Ok. Not sure how this will help but...
screenshot: http://picturepush.com/public/12024496
path: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/getting-started-with-office-2010-FX101822272.aspx?CTT=97

Interesting - I haven't seen that on any of my Office 2010 Pro Plus installs, but OTOH I use a custom transform for the install, so perhaps it's due to that.

I'd suggest:

• Searching your registry for that path and see if you can find the relevant entries.
• Using Autoruns to check for startup or logon items creating/replacing this shortcut.
• Checking whether the shortcut exists in C:\Users\Public\Desktop (and if so, whether deleting it there changes the phenomenon).
• If all else fails, using Process Monitor to track exactly what's happening when you delete the shortcut and it reappears.

Hope this helps

MiCr0

i'm glad i'm not the only one with this problem

Fysh

MiCr0 wrote: »

i'm glad i'm not the only one with this problem

Have you had any joy in tracking down how/why it's happening?

MiCr0

i just ran process monitor for the last 4 hours - and identified it to a corporate policy being implemented

It's loading a file called "Shortcuts.xml" which has the url and details in it.

Next step - find a way to block it :-)

onree

Did anyone ever figure out how to fix this problem? I have the exact same thing on my work computer and it's very annoying.

boardtc

onree wrote: »

Did anyone ever figure out how to fix this problem? I have the exact same thing on my work computer and it's very annoying.

Never found out, it's very annoying

onree

So boardtc, it turns out the MiCrO and I work for the same company and so it's clearly a corporate configuration. Not sure if you work for the same (Swedish) company as well.

boardtc

onree wrote: »

So boardtc, it turns out the MiCrO and I work for the same company and so it's clearly a corporate configuration. Not sure if you work for the same (Swedish) company as well.

Ahh, I see! Yes, I do.

bgm13

Did anyone ever get the fix for this?

MiCr0

I think I've got a working solution, at least in our corporate setup

bgm13

Can you share?

MiCr0

I did the following to the file (C:\Users\<user name>\Desktop\Office 2010 guides.url):

Change the file's attibute to "hidden".
As administrator, remove rights to the file for your user and the SYSTEM user.

lagosara

I think I work for same company as other users. I found Shortcut.xml in group policy file in C:, then I changed permissions on it and commented out from <Shortcut> to </Shortcut>. That annoying .lnk is not reappearing. Hope to be useful.

boardtc

Nice one :-) I found 3 shortcut,xml files under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Group Policy, 2 needed this commenting out.

Hanem

Hi, I have tried to change the xmls and something overwrites the xmls too.
So I wrote a delete script in AutoHotkey:

sleep 300000
loop {
IfExist, c:\Users\<USERNAME>\Desktop\Office 2010 guides.url
FileDelete, c:\Users\<USERNAME>\Desktop\Office 2010 guides.url
sleep 10000
}

If you put it in the start menu > startup directory, it will start auto and after the boot (five minutes delay) it checks your desktop in every 10 seconds and deletes the file.

(I'm also working for some Swedish company... )

eiyo

On your own risk, everything on the desktop may be lost, this may cause logon scripts to report fail etc:

Delete the link
Start -> Run... -> gpedit.msc
Accept UAC
User Configuration -> Administrative Template -> Desktop -> Hide and disable all items on the desktop: Enable it
Reboot

eiyo

The group policy method above hides everything on the desktop and disables right click on the desktop area so it might not suit everyone.

Chaos_Sky

Hanem,

The AutoHotKey solution is clever, safe and it will also expose the user to the AutoHotKeys program that's useful for all sort of things...

Thanks...