Easy Desktop Shortcuts for Safe Internet Searching

This is an easy way to make simple, memorable desktop launchers for younger children.

I wanted links to ‘safe search‘ sites that were visually easy to remember for the six year olds and up who use a networked computer room. The computers run XP Pro.

Step 1: Make bright, easy to remember icons. Or use mine. Please note that the two icons here are just PNG images; if you want to use them then save them to your computer, open them in GIMP or another image manipulation program and save them as .ico files. The ‘B’ is going to open up the browser at the BBCs CBBC Find page. The ‘Y’ is going to open the browser at the Yahoo Kids search page. Both these sites are for children and results they give are from sites that are vetted before being allowed in. Both sites have disclaimers about the content of search results:

Here’s the BBCs:

CBBC Search includes carefully selected sites outside the BBC. They are checked regularly, but please note the BBC is not responsible for their content. If you see anything that upsets you, please contact us.

Yahoo Kids also hand pick sites and REJECT unsuitable ones:

We carefully check every site that goes into Yahoo! Kids But as most of you know, the Internet is constantly changing. If you find something here that somehow morphed into a REJECT site, please let us know

Step 2: After logging in as Administrator, place the icons in the top level of “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users”. Here they will not be seen directly but can be linked to easily.

Step3: Open a browser and type your target site (i.e: “http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/find/”) into the URL bar. Once on the site click and drag the icon at immediate left of the browser URL bar to the desktop.

This makes a shortcut to the site, but it’s not yet using your chosen icon, nor is accessible to all users. Repeat this process for other sites you want launchers for.

Step 3: Cut and paste the new shortcut files into “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop”

Step 4: Right click on a shortcut and select ‘Properties’. Here’s a screenshot of an example desktop showing the ‘All Users’ folder containing the icons and the ‘All Users/Desktop’ folder containing the new shortcuts. The ‘Properties’ window of the Yahoo shortcut is open too:

Step 5: In the ‘General’ tab of the ‘Properties’ window you can change the title of the shortcut to ‘Search Yahoo’ or whatever you like. In the ‘Web Document’ tab press the ‘Change Icon’ button. Navigate to the ‘All Users’ folder and select the desired icon.

Now you can log out and any user of the computer can use the shortcuts when they log in. They can’t delete them as the ‘All Users/Desktop’ folder is by default ‘read only’ for regular users.

During step 3 there is also the possibility of doing some extra organising. If the desktops of users are cluttered with unwanted shortcuts (from installed but infrequently used programs, for instance) you could delete unnecessary ones while in the All Users ‘Desktop’ folder. When pasting your icons into other computers’ ‘All Users’ folders you could also paste in your modified ‘All Users/Desktop’ folder too. This will overwrite the cluttered older version with the new, pared down one. This process will not affect any shortcuts already created by normal users. Of course you should check first with others to make sure you don’t delete useful shortcuts in the process.