A shortcut is a small file that points to another file. The shortcut is represented by an icon with the black arrow. Right click it and choose properties.

A regular file is also represented by an icon, you can right click it too, but the properties are different.

A shortcut allows you to "point" to something located somewhere else. If you right click any object, including a shortcut, you can create a shortcut to it.

Just about every Windows object is a file. Some do things, others just store data. A folder is just a file that contains other files. The desktop is a folder too.

__________________
MB-less