In all versions of Windows, whenever you place a shortcut on the desktop, it will overlay an arrow in the bottom left-hand corner as a visual sign that it's a shortcut. If you don't care to take that arrow, y'all tin can remove it in a couple of different ways. In this article, I'll talk virtually a registry hack and also nigh a freeware utility that gets the chore done.

Remove Shortcut Icon via Registry

I mention the registry hack outset because information technology'southward the quickest and easiest way to get rid of the arrows without having to install any third-party programs. It works on Windows Vista, Windows seven and Windows viii without any upshot. You exercise have to be a picayune comfortable using the registry, just information technology'due south really straightforward.

Click on Get-go and blazon in regedit in the search box. On Windows 8, go to the Offset Screen and starting typing regedit.

regedit

Now navigate to the following primal:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SOFTWARE – Microsoft – Windows – CurrentVersion – Explorer – Beat out Icons

Note that you may non accept the Shell Icons key under Explorer by default. If information technology'south not there, correct-click on Explorer in the left-hand pane and cull New – Cardinal.

key registry key

A new key will appear in the left-hand card and you'll accept to give it a name. At present type in Shell Icons with the capitalization shown in the screenshot above. Then click on Shell Icons in the left pane and you'll see just a key named Default in the correct-hand pane. Right-click on any white area in the right-pane and cull New – String Value.

new string value

Change the name to the number 29 and printing Enter. And so double-click on the entry to bring up the key editor. In the Value Data field, go ahead and copy and paste the following:

%windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50

add new key

Click OK and shut out the registry editor. Now just log off and log back in or restart your computer and the arrows should exist gone from your desktop icons if done correctly. This will too piece of work on 32 or 64-flake versions of Windows.

Windows Shortcut Arrow Editor

Windows Shortcut Arrow Editor is a dandy niggling programme is my favorite considering it non merely works on Windows Vista, Windows vii and Windows 32 or 64-bit versions, but also doesn't require you to mess around with the registry.

shortcut arrow editor

In one case yous download it, just unzip the files and so navigate to the appropriate directory for your Bone and platform. At that place are 32 and 64-bit versions for Windows vii & Vista and the aforementioned for Windows 8. Once y'all run the EXE file, y'all'll go a simple dialog as shown below where y'all tin can choose from one of four options.

remove shortcut arrows

The archetype arrow is a smaller arrow than the default one and y'all tin besides cull a custom epitome if yous desire something other than an arrow to show up on the icon. The overnice thing almost this program is that you don't even have to log off for information technology to work. Once y'all select the radio button, the desktop is automatically updated and you'll run into the arrows take disappeared.

Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover

Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover basically takes the registry hack and wraps information technology into a small plan. This little freeware application is by no means a stunning piece of software with loads of features, etc, but then over again it'south ordinarily the simple applications that everyone loves. The only downside is that it just works on 32-flake versions of Windows.

shortcut remover

The program is very simple to employ and does it's one job very well. You can either shrink the arrow size for the arrow shortcuts or remove them altogether from your icons. Choose one of the four options from the list and click Utilise. You can also bank check the box at the lesser, which will remove the word "shortcut" when y'all create new shortcuts on the desktop.

Now get ahead and log off your computer and log back on. Your arrows should either be gone or be reduced in size. I also tried to run this program on Windows XP, but information technology didn't allow me to.

If you want to remove the shortcut arrows from Windows XP desktop icons, yous'll need to check out my postal service on tweaking Windows XP using Tweak UI for XP. You lot can as well tweak many other settings using the Tweak UI program.