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I already have a great idea for this 
But I’m not going to tell 

Can’t you just use splut.Length?

I’m definitely in! I just have to think of something useful now... 

Are you going to take this one on Tinjaw? It sounds interesting

Okay could you try to install the attachment and see if this is basically what you want?

This is a very basic version without exception handling and complete functionality! Just to show you how I think you want it It places a shortcut on your desktop after setup for your comfort but I can remove that in the final version if you want.

(You can exit by pressing ALT+F4)

Maybe it’s me but I still don’t understand if I should intercept these shortcuts or not... 
You say ‘disallow access to the desktop/start menu’, do you mean hiding them from view only? Or prevent shortcut keys as well?

Another question: what OS is running on the workstation and do you already have software to prevent shortcuts from being pressed (CTRL+ALT+DEL, ALT+TAB, WIN+R, etc.)?

I find it rather odd that it doesn’t exist already, but I guess the general idea is good enough to give it a try. I’ll start on it in the next couple of days to see if it’s feasible to keep it simple and secure. In the meantime, can you elaborate more on the purpose of the app? Is it to record the time the user has used the computer for billing purposes or restrict further use after a period of time (counting down) or simply to inform the user about what he may expect to have to pay afterwards?

Nice idea but not quite feasible I think. Getting the information is easy with WMI and any programming language, but processing the results is quite another story. Most serial numbers use not only digits, but letters and punctuation as well. Apart from that, a lot of devices do not even return anything, leaving you with an empty value. On top of that you could never replace your defective CD Rom drive, memory module or any other hardware without having to modify your code and rebuild the application. The idea has been explored many times but I don’t think any commercial developer implemented it this way, mainly because good alternatives like a USB dongle are widely available.

Nice script thesteve, similar to what I had in mind. I have a remark though, possibly a typo or a potential bug:

The statements If array_len > 0 Then and If array_len >= 1 Then are identical in this context. Therefore the statement shortcutName = splut(1) might throw an IndexOutOfRangeException. I think the code should be corrected to If array_len > 1 Then for the second If ... Then clause.

I have been using my own solution to this for years:

1) Create a folder anywhere you like, with any name you like. I made mine in ‘My Documents’ called ‘QuickStart’.
2) Add the new folder to the path variable.
3) Create shortcuts to any commonly used applications or documents inside this folder and make sure the name of the shortcut is the command you want to use for it. For example, I made a shortcut to Visual Studio called ‘vs’. So when I execute the Start → Run dialog, I type ‘vs’ and the shortcut is executed because it’s in the path.

On top of that you can set all parameters like commandline arguments, working folders and Win95 compatibility emulation as well.

Very simple and no application needed 

sometimes i need to create quickly shortcuts but the right-click/drag-drop is a bit slow at times. i have a list which i would like a program to go through and create individual shortcuts for each item in the list.

so, i am wondering if there is a program that could create shortcuts (*.lnk) from a text list containing file and/or folder.. can anyone help me out?

Okay so what format is the text file in? Something like <full source path> <full destination path> <shortcut name> <icon source> ?? Or is the destination always the same folder or the desktop? A bit more info and I can create a quick tool for it I think.

Regards,
Ruffnekk