Software Deployment

My interpretation of the OP is that the application is launching automatically after the installation has finished. That sounds like a CA to me. Possibly a property could be set to prevent launch after installation is finished.

^^What Joe said. There will be a property that launches the app when its finished installing. Check out the dialogs for the property name.

Surely it's not difficult to fathom how to remove a desktop shortcut? Open your installer in an editor of your choice (Wise, Installshield, Orca, InsEdit), go to the 'Shortcut' table, find the row which has the value 'DesktopFolder' in the 'Directory_' column, and delete the row. Save it. Remember not to edit a vendor MSI, so generate a transform (MST) if needs be. And then after you've done that, go and read up on what a launch condition is.....[;)]

If you need step by step procedure as training?... contact me .. so that we can discuss our commercials

you want to remove the shortcut placed in Desktop?

If you are using wise then there is shortcut tab -> on right side of pane remove the shortcut pointing to desktop.

From my reading, the OP doesn't want to remove the shortcut but stop the installer from "launching" when the application's shortcut is clicked.

@OP, can I suggest you read Phil Wilson's The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer? Concentrate on the parts dealing with self-healing and repair. Once done, you'll realise that it is safe to ignore anything that whoever told you this behaviour is contrary to WI Best Practise says.