After upgrading from Vista to Windows 7, I find that I cannot Pin the application "Shiretoko (64-bit)" to the taskbar without it getting a label of "Shiretoko (64-bit) (2)". I don't have any other icons on my taskbar with a similar name. I've tried unpinning it and re-pinning it. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Shiretoko (with a restart in between), but the pinned icon name always gets the (2) appended.
I had searched around here, thinking that Quick Launch and Taskbar pinning were very much the same, but I hadn't seen it because it was hidden. In that folder, there was a shortcut with the desired name. Why that shortcut didn't appear on the taskbar, I don't know. I deleted that shortcut, then re-pinned the application, and it now appears with the correct name."
"This problem occurs most often when users delete their user profile and restore a backup copy. This problem occurs because the pinned programs from the previously backed up User directory still exist, but they no longer appear on the ""new"" start menu after the backup is set in place. Whenever you see a ""(2)"" after a shortcut, it means it's a duplicate copy of an already existing shortcut, so you know that somewhere hidden in your computer, that shortcut already exists. You just need to find it and delete it.
You can fix this by going to the following (hidden) directory:
If you don't have ""view hidden folders"" enabled, enable it by going to folder options.
Once you're in that folder, you'll see that both your ""new"" pinned program with the ""(2)"" after it as well as your ""old"" pinned program (without the (2) on it) are both in that folder. Delete everything in that folder, unpin any programs you already have pinned to your start menu that have (2) on them, and then re-pin them. You should now have the programs pinned without any erroneous numbers attached to them."
"Found this procedure to be more direct and effective in eliminating the problem. Deleting the duplicate links also stopped the quick launch icons from shifting position when arranging them.
Open the [Folder Options] control panel. Go to 'Hidden files and folders', and select 'Show hidden files, folders, and drives'. Download and install the [Everything] search engine from voidtools.com. Launch [Everything] and enter the application name of the quick launch icon with the appended number. Click to select any *.lnk file found by Everything, and use the Delete command under File to remove it. Empty the trash and restart if necessary. Create a new replacement icon in the quick launch bar."
Right click on the problem icon in the Start menu, go to more, than click "Open file location". Once the location of said icon is open, you will see your icon and its duplicate(s). Delete the duplicates! Simple solution, to a simple problem!
"I'm running Win 10. I had multiple, duplicate shortcuts on my taskbar and only the ones with the number '(2)', were visible. Here's what I did to fix the problem.
Go to this folder in File Explorer: C:\Users\Unknown\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
Triple-click on the above file path, copy and paste it into the address bar in File Explorer. Replace ""Unknown"" with your username after you do that.
Using the Details view, sort the list of shortcuts by name and you can easily see the duplicates listed together.
Delete whichever duplicate you want. I deleted the ones I couldn't see.
For each of the ones you didn't delete, right-click and go to Properties.
In Properties, click on the General tab.
At the top of that tab you'll see the name of the shortcut just to the right of the icon. Change that name to whatever you would like it to display when you hover over the icon on the taskbar.
You can also just change the name in File Explorer, like you would any other file name, w/o going to Properties, whichever you prefer.
To see the name changes on the taskbar, you can either restart your PC or use the shortcut method. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up the Task Manager.
Click the Processes tab and sort the list by name.
Scroll to the bottom of the list and right-click on Windows Explorer.
Choose Restart. Your taskbar will flash off and on. Now, when you hover over an icon that had its name changed, you should see the change.
Again, this is how it worked for me in Windows 10. Your mileage may vary, depending on OS version and configuration. That's it. It takes a lot longer to read than it does to do it. Hope this is helpful."
