Vista - Keyboard shortcuts for program's shortcuts do not work

I mean that the CTRL + ALT + <X> shortcuts which I write for having a
Shortcut Key do not work, reboot and do not work.

I have tried to set a enviromental variable to point to shortcuts folder
which I might run by typing in Run... and this neither works.
I have tried to set an URL prefix to run programs from the Address and this
neither works.
I have searched for help, and I did not find any.

Neverthless, I can drop shortcuts to the windows directory and run them from
the Run...

Is there anything I can do? or where may I find the proper infromation to
fix all the above misstakes?

Thank you.

Cordially,
mariano