Remove Windows 7 Shortcut Icons

Today I want to tell you how remove arrows from shortcuts on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. In Windows, the default settings are when the shortcuts on the desktop are marked with special arrows, as if indicating that they are shortcuts (as if it weren’t clear anyway). But the trouble is that not everyone likes it, well, somehow they don’t decorate the program interface, but vice versa. over, Windows does not even provide for their disabling, at least I have not found anywhere how to do it.

The developers themselves do not give an answer. That’s what they write. I quote R12; “This display is standard for shortcuts and if there are problems with making changes to the standard functions of the product, then this issue cannot be considered in the framework of this forum”. By the way, here is a link to this post support answer about deleting arrows.

On the Internet, you can find many ways to remove them from shortcuts. And there are programs, so you can manually correct the registry. In this article I will describe both of these methods (or rather even three), and you already choose which one is most convenient for you. For me it’s better to use a special program.

These methods work in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Personally, I have been tested on Windows 8.1 64 bit version.

Attention! Not tested on Windows 8.

And further! Before you complete these steps, first create a Windows restore point.

The first way. We remove the arrows using a special program, namely using Aero Tweak. You do not need to install it, it just starts and that’s it. Here’s what the shortcuts look like before. Those. arrows are present in place.

Now we find the downloaded program on the computer and run it.

Dim program interface. In the left part, select the item “Windows Explorer” and on the right we find the item “Windows Explorer”Do not show arrows on labels“And mark it with a tick.

That’s basically it! Now it remains only to restart the computer.

Reboot the computer, and voila! The shooter on the desktop icons as it did.

By the way, as you can see, the program has many more additional functions for setting up the operating system, so if it is interesting, you can experiment with it. But be careful, it is designed for Windows 7. On the eight, I tested only working with desktop shortcuts.

Second way. Turn off the arrows on the desktop using the registry editing special files with the extension reg

Download the archive with files called “remove_arrow.zip”

We find the folder in which it was loaded and open it.

We see several files. We select the file we need based on what operating system you have installed. I have a 64-bit version, so I run the “64-bit_Remove_Shortcut_Arrow” file. If you have a 32-bit system, then, accordingly, select another file with 32-bit. We launch it.

We agree to the addition of information to the registry. Click the “Yes” button

We get a message that the information was successfully entered into the registry. Click the “Ok” button

It remains only to restart the computer and you’re done.

If you are not comfortable with the desktop with shortcuts without arrows, you can return everything to its place. To do this, run a file from the archive under the name “Restore_Shortcut_Arrow.reg”, agree to the addition of information and restart the computer. All arrows will fall into place.

Third way. This method is suitable for those who are already well versed in the computer and do not want to use any third-party programs. Those. here we will work (as it is fashionable now to say among programmers) with pens, namely, edit. If in the second method we corrected the registry using ready-made files, then here we will do it ourselves.

So open the registry editor. To do this, right-click on the “START” button (this applies only to Windows 8), and we find the Run command

At the command prompt, type the command “regedit” and press the button “Ok”

We get into the registry editor. Here we need to expand the section “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT”

In the opened directory tree, on the left, finds a folder with the name R12; Lnkfile. And on the right side we find and select the parameter R12; IsShortcut, who is responsible for showing arrows on desktop shortcuts.

Click on this parameter with the right mouse button and select “Rename”

Rename it to R12; IsNotShortcut, save, so that it turns out as in the picture below

We reboot the computer and enjoy the lack of arrows.