File type: Link Files
These files are shortcuts or links to original files on the hard drive disk. They are similar to aliases used on the popular Macintosh platform.
These may also be created in Windows simply by right-clicking any file and clicking on the option Create Shortcut.
If the LNK file is used as a shortcut to an application or program (an .EXE file), it can also contain command line arguments for the program which it can use to set attributes.
One can right-click on the shortcut or link file then select the Properties;, option and then modify the field "Target".
The LNK file's icon usually includes small curled arrows on the bottom left side in order to give an indication that these files only point to another location or that it is just a link to another file in the hard disk drive and not the file itself.
Double Clicking the file would execute the actual file that this link file refers to and will run that program. Links are usually very useful since they allow easy access to programs which may be installed in complex and hard to remember locations in your operating systems directories.
The various icons that you see on the desktop in an Windows Operating System are all such links which only refer to the actual programs they run on double clicking. They aren't the actual EXE files that execute and make running programs a lot easier from anywhere the user wants.