opening desktop shortcuts

[idr]

I work on win7 after several gooood years on XP and now:
I have on my desktop several shortcuts, which open the most frequently used programs. They opened usually with a double left-click, as always, but some time ago they ceased to function in the usual way (double click) and now in order to open a program I must either :
- right-click and then click on the "open" in the menu
- or drag the shortcut to the taskbar and open it with a left click.
I tried to change the setting in "folder options" to single click. And the shortcuts now open, but then I find that the various folders do not open neither with one nor with a double click and only with "enter"
What can be done
Please advise
thanks

 

[Yard Dog]

Hello idr , welcome to the Forums See if Option 2 is what you need : UAC - Change Prompt Behavior for Administrators in Windows

 

[Ztruker]

When you right click on one of these, what is the default (bold) option? If it's not Open then it's messed up and needs to be fixed.

See this tutorial by Shawn Brink for how to fix this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html