Windows XP hangs when trying to delete broken shortcut

[zerobeta]

I am not sure what causes this, I don't remember having this problem before.

When I try to delete/right click on a broken shortcut, for example a shortcut (no matter on which drive it is located on) to a game which I uninstalled, windows hangs for a few seconds, only then it responds.

Any idea what may cause this? I don't think this is normal...

[Nick7]

Same issue here, but under Vista :)

[Amuro]

It's normal for both XP and Vista.

[nekrosoft13]

it hangs up for short time (5-8 seconds) because windows is looking for the exe. sometimes when the target of the short might be moved. You might get a screen asking if you want to change the location, since the item moved.

[zerobeta]

ok I just thought it was weird since its only happening when clicking on a broken game shortcut, not documents.

[Eliminator]

yea its normal... windows is stupid like that... same with a network connection... if its not properly setup or incorrect ip the whole system hangs until it times out

[supra]

if u want to delete it a quick way u could just delete it from commandline

[Mr Bigman]

This is been going on since the95 days. Its Explorer face it not the best shell out their.

Use Aston Shell looks damn good and does alpha blending qute well.

[aesop.grimm]

This is NOT normal Windows behavior and in my case was caused by an Explorer shell extension added by Sony's Securom: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\CmdLineExt_x64.dll (Vista 64-bit).

This shell extension causes Explorer to lag or freeze ("Windows Explorer is not responding") when right-clicking "broken" shortcuts pointing to missing .exe files. I didn't have an issue with other file types.

I was able to fix this using Nirsoft ShellExView by disabling this extension (F7 in ShellExView). I found instructions for solving this issue at http://shellfix.nirsoft.net/fix_shell_problem.html?id=54&dll=cmdlineext_x64.dll

This is one of many issues caused by invasive Securom copy protection malware. Some other Securom shell extensions that may be causing issues are listed here: http://shellfix.nirsoft.net/shell_problems_list.html?o=5 (http://shellfix.nirsoft.net/shell_problems_list.html?o=5). Look for the "CmdLineExt" entries from "Sony DADC".

Keep in mind if you install another game with Securom, this extension will probably become re-enabled and the problem will return.

[Quick420]

All I do when this happens is make a "new folder" drag n drop the shortcut ....wham delete.