I downloaded to my laptop so I can take my projects with me , but my files save as internet explorer shortcuts
instead of .svg files.
I've never had this problem and I've been using this software for a little while now. It only does this with my recent
downloads.

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks.

Svg-s can be rendered by browsers.
Your default browser is set to open the svg-s by default on your computer.
Right click on an svg's icon, and set inkscape as the default program to open the files with svg format.