I've assigned shortcut keys to numerous application shortcuts (right click the shortcut > Properties > Shortcut tab > Shortcut key). I've been using these shortcut keys for years with no problems, but this morning they stopped working normally.
When I press they shortcut key I see a very brief change in the cursor's state, then nothing launches. However, they do work in two situations:
If any Windows folder is open
Very weirdly—if Firefox is running; I've found no other program that enables the shortcut keys in this way
Other relevant details:
Most of the shortcuts are in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Shortcuts directly on the desktop have the same problem
All shortcut keys are of the form form Shift-Ctrl-Alt-(key)
DISM.exe and sfc /scannow reported problems but fixed them, and now they report all is clear
Multiple malware scanners say all is well
Possibly related: when I booted up this morning, my desktop shortcuts—which are normally grouped by topic—were all clustered together in the standard desktop "align to grid" configuration, even though "align to grid" wasn't enabled
Any idea what's gone wrong and how to fix it?
I'm wondering whether this could be a problem introduced by a Microsoft OS update. Windows Update History says the following were applied yesterday (Patch Tuesday 9/11/2018):