Create a desktop icon with attitude

Create a desktop icon with attitude

Want to create a desktop icon on steroids ? The Windows XP Desktop offers some powerful customization possibilities that can highly automate your everyday tasks.

Here is a nice tip to create a desktop icon that writes an entire email message with one single click.

* Right-click an empty space on your desktop
* Select the option "new" and then "shortcut"
* In the "Create Shortcut" dialog, type mailto:someone@someisp.com?subject=Todays_Report

Of course you should change the email address and the subject into something more useful. Please note, however that the "create new shortcut wizard" is not smart enough to handle spaces. This is no problem, because you can edit the properties after the shortcut is created and then it's ok to use spaces. We'll get to that in a minute, but let's finish this step first :

* Click next

* Enter a descriptive name for the shortcut

* Click finish

The new shortcut will show up on your desktop. Double-click it to try. Windows fires up your email program with the addressee and subject already filled in. Of course you can complete the message before you hit "send".