Unusual changes in the task bar display.
Unusual changes in the task bar display.
When Word and Excel appear as "Word 2013 (2)" and "Excel 2013 (2)" in the task bar, they’ve been renamed due to changes in the W8.1 update. The issue is resolved by renaming the Excel shortcut directly to "Excel 2013". If that doesn’t work, try deleting the existing file with that name and re-adding it. Unpinning and re-pinning won’t fix it, nor will a reboot. This behavior comes from an RT device.
On the start screen, right-clicking Word opens a location picker, but each program still has its own unique shortcut.
Simple solution. The issue lies in having a pre-existing shortcut for Word and Excel that isn't saved in the registry, causing them to appear on the task bar but not functioning properly. When you pin Word, it generates an additional shortcut, which gets registered. The registry helps speed up system performance by quickly accessing shortcuts. It scans your computer for these entries and stores them efficiently. To fix: unpin the icons that display "(2)" from the task bar, navigate to the specified AppData folder, remove the unwanted shortcuts, then re-pin Word and Excel. Once completed, the shortcuts should work correctly again.