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Most installation wizards for Windows programs have the options for defining installation path, file type associations, and creating shortcuts. Shortcuts can be created on the desktop, on the start menu, and on the quick launch. However, in Windows 8.x there is no traditional start menu, and there is no quick launch on the Taskbar. See example below.

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So what does it mean to create a "start menu shortcut" and a "quick launch shortcut" in a Windows 8.x environment? Are these options doing anything useful?

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Quick Launch is the lower Bar with Startorb, open windows, Trayicons, Clock. Quick Launch is normally right of the Startbutton (if enabled). For me a quicklaunch exists on Windows 8.

If the icon is not added as a tile in the Metro Interface it will be added in the Menu which you see after clicking right on a blank area inside metro. In the lower right corner an icon will pop up "all apps".

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  • There is no start button in Windows 8.0. It has been added in 8.1 though. Normally, there is no Quick Launch on the Taskbar in Windows 8.x. Unless you install some third-party software to enable this feature, or similarly.
    – Samir
    Sep 11, 2014 at 13:08
  • Well I assumed that everyone by now would have updated to windows 8.1. It is more or less a Service Pack.
    – ap0
    Sep 11, 2014 at 13:21
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This is what a clean version of Windows 8.1 with Update 1 looks like and behaves like. I will use the Adobe Digital Editions program as an example.

Desktop Shortcut


windows 8.1 update 1 start button

Showing Start button in the left corner, and desktop shortcut to Adobe DE.

Creating shortcuts on the desktop works the same way here as in old versions of Windows. A new shortcut is created on the desktop when the installation is complete.

Start Menu Shortcuts


After installing Adobe Digital Editions, I got the desktop shortcut and icon. I didn't get any Quick Launch icon, even though I selected to create one. I also got two sets of icons on Start Screen.

apps app

One icon here...

program app

... another two here.

I'm not sure why they split up like this. I would have expected them to be grouped together. Does this mean that the first one is a Windows 8 "app" while the other two in the "Adobe" group are classic Windows programs? Anyway! This is what it means to create a "start menu shortcut" in Windows 8. These are all found in the all apps list.

In Windows 8.1 and 8.1 Update 1 you access this list by clicking on an arrow button in the lower right corner on Start Screen. In Windows 8.0 you right click on an empty space on Start Screen, and from the App Bar that appears on the bottom you click on "All apps".

That's all the icons I have for Adobe DE now. There was nothing added to the Start Screen, no tiles. And no Quick Launch icons. Now that I think about it, since Quick Launch has been removed in Windows 8.x the option "create quick launch shortcut" should translate to creating a tile on the Start Screen... no?

Update! This grouping and sorting behavior of apps and programs can be changed by clicking next to the "Apps" header where it says "by name" and changing it to "by category. I like it better this way. Also! This list includes both Windows apps and Windows programs (even though it's collectively called "apps"). And it appears that only true apps (not programs) will have a tile on the Start Screen.

Quick Launch Shortcut


At first, creating Quick Launch shortcuts in Windows 8 doesn't appear to be doing anything. It does, but it's not made apparent because Quick Launch toolbar has been removed from Taskbar. What it does is, it creates a shortcut in the following location.

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

quick launch folder in file explorer

The shortcut is created, but since there is no Quick Launch toolbar, it adds no value in Windows 8 environments. Save 1–5 kB by choosing not to create it in Windows 8.

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