Has anybody found a way of removing the shortcut arrows? The TweakUI program for Vista won't install.Thanks for your help.

Removing shortcut arrow from desktop icons. Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7. Be sure to back up the registry before before doing any registry tweak.1. Start regedit.2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value. Reboot Computer Denny Warning: While this solution solves the issue or problem, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk. For more information about modifying the registry, see Microsoft support article 256986

Egads.....I've done this tweak on every computer I've owned and personally I've never found a shortcut that didn't work afterwards. That's not saying it can't happen on the next build I do.I always keep a backup of the registry just incase.I also create and save a text note on eachindividual change so that I can referbackto it quicklyif I break something.Denny

drum250 said: Removing shortcut arrow from desktop icons. Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7. Be sure to back up the registry before before doing any registry tweak.1. Start regedit.2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value. Reboot Computer Denny Thanks for that, Denny. But I'm either not following you correctly or it doesn't work. I'm going to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile and then going to IsShortcut, right clicking on it and selecting "Modify..." The value was 000, which I deleted. Or did you mean I should delete IsShortcut altogether, not just the value?

Thanks! But in the meantime, I found another method that works perfectly without the possible problems with deleting IsShortcut. It's shown for Vista, but works with Win7 as well.http://tinyurl.com/auvmxf

So the tweak does effect computers differently then. I just checked the Favorites link in Explorer on this computerand it wasn't altered. It still works like it should! Go figure! LOL!Thanks for the link larc. That's a good read. I think if I see the question again I'm just going to direct the person to that page and let them decide how they want to kill the arrows.Denny :)

drum250: It also had the strange effect (Vista) that thin-line boxes appeared around folders on the desktop.larc919: I just tried tinyurl.com/auvmfx. Seems perfect. Except, it burns cpu cycles just to paintinvisible arrows. Haw haw!Thank you both for the excellent hacks!

drum250: It also had the strange effect (Vista) that thin-line boxes appeared around folders on the desktop.larc919: I just tried tinyurl.com/auvmfx. Seems perfect. Except, it burns cpu cycles just to paintinvisible arrows. Haw haw!Thank you both for the excellent hacks!

It would be interesting to know exactly how TweakUI gets rid of the arrows in XP and TweakVI does it in Vista. My guess is they are both making registry changes. BTW the company that came up with Tweak VI is currently working on Tweak-7, so it should be ready by the time Win7 is.

larc919 said: Thanks! But in the meantime, I found another method that works perfectly without the possible problems with deleting IsShortcut. It's shown for Vista, but works with Win7 as well.http://tinyurl.com/auvmxfThis worked nicely for me. Thank you.Mark

You may use the FxVisor tool to remove or replace shortcut arrows. See How to remove or modify the Shortcut overlay in Windows 7 and Vista.Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP

Ramesh Srinivasan said: You may use the FxVisor tool to remove or replace shortcut arrows. See How to remove or modify the Shortcut overlay in Windows 7 and Vista.Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVPYes that is a very good way to do it. I remembered using a program in Vista to do that a long time ago but couldn't remember the name of the program. FxVisor was the program, very easy.Mark

ok it worked great but I have two problems now, wondering if you had these and if you have a fix. first now when I want to download something ad save it,it wont let me save to anywhere but desktop, and so I thought I would put it back the way it was cause I dont like saving to desktop but now I cant find my save version of regedit file and I dont remember what the line was so now I cant put it back .any Ideas or help would be appreciateed. do you have this problem with downloading ?I reaklly dont want the arrows back. but I hate all the stuff on desktop

If you used my method of removing the shortcut arrows, you can manually replace the deleted value by doing the following.1. Start regedit.2. In the left pane, Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile3. In the right pane, right-clickin a blank area & choose new> String value.4. You will see a new line "New Value#1" highlighted.5. Type IsShortcut6. Enter to accept.Now either reboot or log out and log back in.The arrows should be back on your desktop icons.As I mentioned above, my machine didn't suffer the effects that other people are seeing. After reading the link that larc provided, I think it's a better bet to use FxVisor as Ramesh suggested. I downloaded a copy formyself and will probable use that when 7 goes retail.Hope this helps,Denny

Actually, modifying the linkfile in the registry by deleting IsShortuct or by renaming it (e.g., to IsNotShortcut) is not a good idea. For example, if you do this and restart explorer, you will find that if you try to right click on My Computer and select "manage", you will get the following error message: "File does not have have a program associated it for performing this action." The method detailed here (wherein you create the registry string 29 and use the noarrow.ico will not create problems like this and is thus preferable.

yaa guyz it is the case you are searching to remove or enable the short cut arrow on icons in windows xp, the below is one method to do this. For Vista and Windows 7 , it is very easy by just changing the settings in "Personalize" settings by right click on the desktop. But in windows xp, you should do some modifications in registry settings. So, follow these steps: Go to Run --> regedit.exe --> Hkey_local_machine \ software \ microsoft \ windows \ current versions \ Explorer \ shellicons \ --> In the right pane, Create string value and named it as 29 --> Modify the value as "C:\windows\system32\shell32.dll,29" Here 29 - for enable the shortcut arrow and 50 - for removing. Here 29 is the inder(serial) number of the shortcut arrow. you can take any other value for different appearance. ramesh.kbvr@gmail.com, Ramesh Gandhi.K

Thanks for the post drum250! Why microsoft thinks people like that ugly arrow is beyond me. The desktop looks so much better without it. Glen

Thanks for the post drum250! Why microsoft thinks people like that ugly arrow is beyond me. The desktop looks so much better without it. Glen this is bad and breaks the Game Explorer. Use the tool suggested by Ramesh Srinivasan <abbr class="affil"> MVP</abbr> <abbr class="affil">, Answerer</abbr> "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/