shortcut.dll is considered a type of Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file. Dynamic Link Library files, like shortcut.dll, are essentially a "guide book" that stores information and instructions for executable (EXE) files - like FileCoAuth.exe - to follow. These files were created so that multiple programs (eg. Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3) could share the same shortcut.dll file, saving valuable memory allocation, therefore making your computer run more efficiently.
Unfortunately, what makes DLL files so convenient and efficient, also makes them extremely vulnerable to problems. If something happens to a shared DLL file, either it goes missing or gets corrupted in some way, it can generate a "runtime" error message. Runtime is pretty self-explanatory; it means that these errors are triggered when shortcut.dll is attempted to be loaded either when Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3 is starting up, or in some cases already running. Some of the most common shortcut.dll errors include:
- Access Violation at address - shortcut.dll.
- shortcut.dll could not be found.
- Cannot find C:\Program Files (x86)\Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3\shortcut.dll.
- Cannot register shortcut.dll.
- Cannot start Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3. A required component is missing: shortcut.dll. Please install Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3 again.
- Failed to load shortcut.dll.
- The application has failed to start because shortcut.dll was not found.
- The file shortcut.dll is missing or corrupt.
- This application failed to start because shortcut.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
Your shortcut.dll file could be missing due to accidental deletion, uninstalled as a shared file of another program (shared with Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3), or deleted by a malware infection. Furthermore, shortcut.dll file corruption could be caused from a power outage when loading Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 3, system crash while loading shortcut.dll, bad sectors on your storage media (usually your primary hard drive), or quite commonly, a malware infection. Thus, it's critical to make sure your anti-virus is kept up-to-date and scanning regularly.