Link seeker

Every file on your computer has an extension, even though you may not have the required program to run it. This includes shortcuts, which are merely links to a specific target. These can also be fitted with hotkeys, and with the help of Link seeker you can easily detect all shortcuts on your computer which can be accessed via hotkeys.

Before the application can be of any use, you need to make sure that .NET Framework is installed on your computer, although it’s a default feature in modern Windows iterations. On the other hand, the program itself skips you the setup process, which means you can carry it on a thumb drive to use on other computers, without affecting registry entries.

The application requires little effort on your behalf from start to end thanks to the straightforward approach on the situation, and the intuitive design. Most of the space is used as a preview area for all files it finds, while controls you need to put the process in motion are found in an upper toolbar. Sadly, you can’t add a custom folder to search.

Two search methods can be used to locate shortcuts, namely LNK files. You can either entirely trust in the application’s instinct and let it look up common places with a high chance to hold shortcuts with hotkeys, or force it to look up all Start Menu, desktop, and taskbar shortcuts. Moreover, there’s the possibility to choose display level, which means results show all detected LNK files, or only those fitted with hotkeys.

Hitting the “seek” button puts the process in motion. It usually doesn’t take a lot of time for results to show up in the preview area, but this only depends on the number of shortcuts on your PC. Detected elements show up in an organized table with details like hotkey, link file name, target, and link file location. Sadly, you can’t change the hotkey directly, but only launch a selected item, or jump to the source folder.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Link seeker is a handy application which helps you detect those file which use hotkeys you might want to assign to other commands. Although you can’t specify a folder to search in, most common places are looked up and there’s a high chance detection ratio lives up to expectations.