Something happened after a long overdue update to cause a couple of the many shortcuts on a (Dell laptop) Windows XP desktop like Google to display the title: Google.url and a Popfile shortcut now reads: Popfile User Interface.url. If I delete the Google shortcut and try to make another one the same thing happens. If I try to rename it to just "Google" the icon is destroyed. What do I have to reset to be able to make shortcuts without that ".url" extension? Thanks.

Open up my computer, then go to Tools> Folder Options> View, then Tick "Hide File Extensions for known file types"

How to accomplish this in windows 7 which does not have My Computer window?