How to create shortcuts on PC under Windows

A shortcut is simply as the name implies an icon that is created which points to a file in another folder. Typically shortcuts are used to create a second icon for a commonly used program. This shortcut icon is often placed right on the desktop to provide easy access.

In our case we want to create shortcut icons for the Tcl/Tk tools that we will require for our programming effort.

C:\Program Files\Tcl\doc\tcl80.hlp (or C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Tcl\Tcl Help)
C:\Program Files\Tcl\bin\wish80.exe
C:\Program Files\Tcl\bin\tclsh80.exe
C:\Program Files\Accessories\WORDPAD.EXE

NOTE: some of these names will probably be different on your system. As versions of the Tcl/Tk toolset are upgraded they are versioned as 8.0, 8.1, 8.2 or 8.3. The 80 on these screenshots refers to version 8.0.

Step 1:

By clicking on right hand mouse button while over the "Start" button you will get the menu as shown above. Click on the "Explore" item in that menu.

Step 2:

By navigating in the lefthand side of the Explorer window above you can zero in on the folder which contains the file we wish to make a shortcut for. In this case we are looking for the file called "wish80.exe" (in your case it will be wish83.exe).

On the left hand side of the Explorer window scroll down under the C drive to a folder called "Program Files"
open it
on the right hand side of the Explorer window open the "Tcl" folder
continue by opening the "bin" folder

Step 3:

Once again we want to use the righthand mouse button while pointing at the wish80.exe (in your case wish83.exe) file. This will bring up a menu shown in the image above. Select the "Create Shortcut" item from that menu. The result will be as shown below

Step 4:

At this point it is simply a matter of dragging the "Shortcut to wish80" item from the Explorer window onto the desktop. The result will be something like the image below

It is then a simple matter of renaming the icon on the desktop to something more tidy such as "Wish". This is done in same manner as one would rename any file.

Step 5:

Repeat these steps to create shortcuts for the other tools we will require in these lessons.