Did I do something serious?

New Windows 98 owner here (again).

I was in C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND, right-clicking on some of the files there, then choosing "Properties" to gather info. about them.

When I did that on a file called Mem.exe, it created a shortcut in the directory (the original is still there though).

The shortcut is called "Mem." It has a colorful MS-DOS icon with a little arrow. Its Properties window says that it is a "Shortcut to MS-DOS Program." Its creation date is today, and its size is 967 bytes (32,768 bytes used).

I honestly did not choose "Create Shortcut." It did this on its own. (I even repeated my steps to confirm this). None of the other files did this when I viewed their properties - just this one.

Can I safely delete this shortcut?

Hi.. no worries, you can delete the shortcut. The command to create a shortcut is close to properties on the menu (and delete and rename) so it's not uncommon to accidentaly click something unintentionally.

The file you created was a PIF file which is a "information" file for a DOS program.

From Explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options > View Tab
and UNSelect "Hide file extensions for known file types"

This will now show ALL extensions for ALL files and you will be able to clearly see the 2 files MEM.exe and MEM.pif

You "can" delete the PIF file, but if you right mouse again, it will be recreated.

I stand informed ;)

Thanx Whitphil