Shortcuts (URL’s) on my desktop pop up with security warning

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I have several shortcuts (URL’s) in a folder on my desktop.   For some unknows reason, when I click on any of these shortcuts I get a pop-up security warning (see picture).  Is there any way to disable this warning?  I use Firefox and I have Win 10 22H2 Home and the OS build is 19045.4046.

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For some reason your picture didn’t appear.

Can you please try resubmitting it?

If that’s not an option or doesn’t work out for some reason, can you please reply here with the exact text of the pop-up security warning and the name of any anti-malware program (or programs) you have in use on your system?

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Here is the picture of the pop-up.

AntiVirus is McAfee…but the pop-up isn’t from that program; the pop-up come from Windows.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob99

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Your shortcuts were not created correctly, so Windows doesn’t know what to do with them.

A few ways I create Desktop shortcuts from web pages (Firefox examples)…

1. Highlight the URL of the the web page, left-click, and drag and drop the URL on the Desktop.
2. If it’s already in the list of bookmarks, right-click on the bookmark and select Copy, then on the Desktop, right-click and select Paste shortcut.
3.  Not exactly a “bookmark”, but File > Save Page As > Web Page, HTML only.

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A proper formatted URL shortcut’s properties will look like this.

And, as OldNavyGuy pointed out, it’ll show the URL to the website you want it to visit.

Your error message indicates that specific shortcut points to a file on your PC located at “C:\Users\???\Favorites Links” and Windows can’t open local files in a browser.

Just FYI, I know it’s possible to setup Windows so that local files can be opened in a browser; been using that option for many years to test “local copies” of web pages I create to ensure they appear as they should when viewed from the website itself.

However, I didn’t mention that because I wanted to keep things simple (firm believer in the KISS principle.)

 

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Hi nOads … yes… you are correct … the shortcuts are in a folder called Financial Links which is under my Favorites.  I believe the shortcuts were created correctly in the Financial Links folder.  For example, the Cox shortcut in the Financial Links folder is as follows:

https://www.cox.com/content/dam/cox/okta/signin.html

and the shortcut is titled “Cox Login – Sign Into Your Cox Account”.  When I click that shortcut in the Financial Links Folder, the security pop-up doesn’t appear.

However, if I rename the shortcut (or shorten the name) in the Financial Links folder, and then click the shortcut, the security pop-up appears.

For example, if I shorten the name of the shortcut to “Cox – Internet & Phone”, and click that shortcut in the Financial Links folder, the security pop-up appears.  However, if I change the name to “Cox Login – Internet & Phone” and click that shortcut in the Financial Links folder, the security pop-up Does Not appear.  So apparently there are some hidden characters/info within the actual name of the shortcut which seems odd to me.

I like to shorten or rename the shortcuts in the Financial Links folder and keep them in alphabetical order to find the one I need easily.  However, several of my shortcuts in the Financial Links folder, before I rename, them are displayed as “Sign In – XXXX”; hence, I need to rename them to get them in the correct alphabetical order.  I haven’t figured out a way to rename the shortcuts that begin with “Sign In” to prevent the security pop-up from appearing.

I was researching other forums and ran across a post that was 9 years old and pertained to Windows 7.  The post stated that this problem (i.e., pop up security warning from links the Favorites folder) is due to the trust/security level of the Favorites folder.  The post stated that the trust/security of the folder can be changed by the following command:

ICACLS “CORRECT_PATH” /Setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)M

And the correct path is: C:\Users\USER_NAME\Favorites\Links

And replace USER_NAME with my user name.

I haven’t tried that command as I didn’t know if it is still valid for Windows 10.  I was concerned that the post is 9 years old, and I didn’t see any recent posts about this issue.  I also didn’t know if I could just change the security/trust level for the Financial Links folder or I would have to change the security/trust level for the Favorites folder.

If you have any insight as to whether this command still works with Windows 10, or any other suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

 

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77JOE84 wrote:

I didn’t know if it is still valid for Windows 10

It is still valid but may not be the problem. It is also the worst way to check the security settings on a folder.
Instead, right click on the folder (Links) and select Properties > Security.
Click on “Authenticated users” and check that everything except “Full Control” and “Special” are set.

For the problem with the shortcuts, can you right click on the offending shortcut, select Properties,  take a screenshot and post it?

cheers, Paul

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