Windows 7 always asks if I want to open toolbar shortcuts (.lnk files)

Question

I recently upgraded my work laptop, which not has Windows 7 on it. I was unable to pin some applications, so I went about creating toolbars that function like a "quick launch" area, more or less as shown HERE.

I simply created a folder called "Freq" (frequent) and added whatever I wanted to it by copying stuff from the Start Menu into the folder.

Now, I get asked every time I click one of these shortcuts if I really want to run it. A dialog pops up and says, "Do you want to open this file? Name: C:\Users\username\Favorites\Freq\Chrome.lnk"

I thought this would stop after a while, perhaps as Windows learned to "trust" the shortcut, but no such dice so far. Is there a way to make this stop? If I open Chrome, for example, directly from the Start Menu, no such thing happens. But all I did was go to the Start Menu, right click the Chrome icon, copy it, and then paste it into my Freq directory.

Thanks for any assistance.

Answer 1

Ended up being simple -- for some reason creating a shortcut directly from wherever the actual .exe file is works perfectly; creating a shortcut from the shortcuts in the Start Menu already continue to pester one with "are you sure you want to run this" message (see picture above).

In other words,

• create a folder for desired "quick launch" icons
• find a program in C:\Program Files or wherever and create a shortcut from it
• paste that shortcut into the folder you created
• create a new toolbar by right clicking the task bar and point to the folder

That's it.

Answer 2

You need to set the quick launch integrity level to Medium. This can be done by applying the following:

1. Click Start, type cmd.exe
2. Right-click cmd.exe in Start menu search results and click Run as Administrator.

3. Type the following command and press {ENTER}

   ICACLS "C:\Users\USERNAME\Favorites\Links" /T /Setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)M
   

Replace USERNAME when the username of the current user. The system should answer:

    processed file: C:\Users\USERNAME\Favorites\Links Successfully
    processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

From now on the warning popup is not shown anymore when you open a shortcut from quick launch.