Shortcut

  1. Windows Shortcut exampleWhen referring to Microsoft Windows, a shortcut is a link that points to a program on the computer. Shortcuts allow users to create links to their programs in any folder, Start bar, Taskbar, Desktop or other locations on their computer. A shortcut in Windows is commonly identified by a small arrow in the bottom corner of the icon and are files that end with a file extension of .lnk. In the picture to the right, is an example of a Windows shortcut that links to the game Company of Heroes. If you're more familiar with Linux you can think of a shortcut as a symbolic link.
  2. A shortcut is also used to describe a keyboard shortcut.

Also see: Hotkey, Keyboard shortcut, Mnemonic, Operating system definitions