Desktop Icons – Removal of Short Cut Arrows from the XP Desktop.
In the interest of keeping a Desktop looking sharp and clean, there are those who would prefer not to see the
little arrows that Windows by default ads to any Shortcut Icon. There is a very simple method to effect this tweak,
but it involves editing the Windows Registry. So… first and foremost, I make the following disclaimer:
I am assuming the reader possesses "advanced user" skills. If you are not an "advanced user" you need to understand that anytime you make edits to the Windows Registry the potential for undesirable and possibly disastrous consequences is always present. If at anytime you do not understand completely what you are being told to do, then I would advise not to proceed. If something goes wrong, you can rant, rave and yell at me all you want, but I in no way assume any level of responsibility for your actions or consequences of such actions.
Now.... as that has been said, this is really a very easy process. If you pay attention and follow directions to the letter, you should have no problems.
In addition, there is a reason that Windows by default ads an arrow to desktop shortcuts. This arrow distinguishes a shortcut from an actual file. On occasion, or as a general practice with some users (don’t ask me why), files or documents are saved directly onto the desktop as opposed to some other location such as the "My Documents" folder. In other words, such files live on the desktop. An icon of a file located on the desktop will have no arrow because it is the file, not a shortcut to the file. If you remove the arrows from your desktop shortcut icons, the potential arises that you may at some point mistakenly delete a file or document thinking that you are only deleting a short cut. So… if it is your habit to save files or documents directly to your desktop, you may want to leave the shortcut arrows intact.
OK… after all of that, you have decided that you want to eliminate what you regard as those pesky little shortcut arrows. I know I hate them. So here we go….
Launch the Registry Editor. (If you don’t know or can’t figure out how to launch Registry Editor, chances are you don’t need to be tying to do this, but if you insist, Click on the Start button, click Run, in the box type Regedit and then click OK.)
Locate the registry "Hive," HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Open this Hive by clicking on it or the plus sign next too it. You will now see a very long list of "Keys" which look just like file folders. They are all in alphanumeric order, so it is a simple matter now to scan down the list to find the following two keys: lnkfile and internetshortcut. Open each of these Keys by clicking on the folder, not the plus sign. You will find inside each of these Keys the "Value" of isshortcut.
Now… there are many on the internet that will tell you at this point to delete these Values. No, No, NO! Deletion of these Values will do the job, but it is both primitively brutish and unwise. Permit me to illustrate this point. If you had a finger nail that was getting a little too long, you wouldn’t pull out a pair of pruning shears and cut your finger off at the first knuckle. That would be just a tad excessive and unnecessarily painful. What you would do is carefully trim the nail with a nail trimmer, (or maybe like some people you would just chew it off, but you wouldn’t bite off your whole finger is the point.)
Right Click on the Value isshortcut and on the drop down menu select "Rename." A little box will form around isshortcut and it will be highlighted in blue. Place your curser at the end of this word and add these three letters: b,a,k. (You can type anything here really, but BAK is the standard file extension for a backup, so an "old school" practice is to mark changes you may wish at some point to reverse with a BAK . ) Make sure you save this edit by clicking anywhere on your desktop outside of the Registry Editor Window. After you have made this edit to the Value isshortcut in both lnkfile and internetshortcut Keys, close down the Registry Editor and reboot.
After the reboot, all of the little annoying arrows will be gone. If you should want to get the arrows back, it is simple to reverse this process and remove the BAK from the Values you edited. Had you deleted those Values the reversal process would be somewhat more complicated.
As a side note, there are some articles on the internet which also mention deleting or editing issshorcut in the Key "piffile" as well. You can certainly do this, however, unless you are using an older Window 9x system, it is unlikely that you would encounter any desktop icons related to PIFs. These would be out of the ordinary on an XP desktop.
I am assuming the reader possesses "advanced user" skills. If you are not an "advanced user" you need to understand that anytime you make edits to the Windows Registry the potential for undesirable and possibly disastrous consequences is always present. If at anytime you do not understand completely what you are being told to do, then I would advise not to proceed. If something goes wrong, you can rant, rave and yell at me all you want, but I in no way assume any level of responsibility for your actions or consequences of such actions.
Now.... as that has been said, this is really a very easy process. If you pay attention and follow directions to the letter, you should have no problems.
In addition, there is a reason that Windows by default ads an arrow to desktop shortcuts. This arrow distinguishes a shortcut from an actual file. On occasion, or as a general practice with some users (don’t ask me why), files or documents are saved directly onto the desktop as opposed to some other location such as the "My Documents" folder. In other words, such files live on the desktop. An icon of a file located on the desktop will have no arrow because it is the file, not a shortcut to the file. If you remove the arrows from your desktop shortcut icons, the potential arises that you may at some point mistakenly delete a file or document thinking that you are only deleting a short cut. So… if it is your habit to save files or documents directly to your desktop, you may want to leave the shortcut arrows intact.
OK… after all of that, you have decided that you want to eliminate what you regard as those pesky little shortcut arrows. I know I hate them. So here we go….
Launch the Registry Editor. (If you don’t know or can’t figure out how to launch Registry Editor, chances are you don’t need to be tying to do this, but if you insist, Click on the Start button, click Run, in the box type Regedit and then click OK.)
Locate the registry "Hive," HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Open this Hive by clicking on it or the plus sign next too it. You will now see a very long list of "Keys" which look just like file folders. They are all in alphanumeric order, so it is a simple matter now to scan down the list to find the following two keys: lnkfile and internetshortcut. Open each of these Keys by clicking on the folder, not the plus sign. You will find inside each of these Keys the "Value" of isshortcut.
Now… there are many on the internet that will tell you at this point to delete these Values. No, No, NO! Deletion of these Values will do the job, but it is both primitively brutish and unwise. Permit me to illustrate this point. If you had a finger nail that was getting a little too long, you wouldn’t pull out a pair of pruning shears and cut your finger off at the first knuckle. That would be just a tad excessive and unnecessarily painful. What you would do is carefully trim the nail with a nail trimmer, (or maybe like some people you would just chew it off, but you wouldn’t bite off your whole finger is the point.)
Right Click on the Value isshortcut and on the drop down menu select "Rename." A little box will form around isshortcut and it will be highlighted in blue. Place your curser at the end of this word and add these three letters: b,a,k. (You can type anything here really, but BAK is the standard file extension for a backup, so an "old school" practice is to mark changes you may wish at some point to reverse with a BAK . ) Make sure you save this edit by clicking anywhere on your desktop outside of the Registry Editor Window. After you have made this edit to the Value isshortcut in both lnkfile and internetshortcut Keys, close down the Registry Editor and reboot.
After the reboot, all of the little annoying arrows will be gone. If you should want to get the arrows back, it is simple to reverse this process and remove the BAK from the Values you edited. Had you deleted those Values the reversal process would be somewhat more complicated.
As a side note, there are some articles on the internet which also mention deleting or editing issshorcut in the Key "piffile" as well. You can certainly do this, however, unless you are using an older Window 9x system, it is unlikely that you would encounter any desktop icons related to PIFs. These would be out of the ordinary on an XP desktop.
Interesting article but is it really worth the effort and risk of accidentally messing up the registry for such a small cosmetic?
Seems a bit scary to me! However, for those who wish to venture into the nitty gritty world of Windows registry, the instructions are laid out in a clear, succinct fashion.
Can't help but wonder though if the average viewer of your blog would fit into that level of "advanced user".
But, as a fellow "techie", Nice Job!
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Yes well…. I did say in the disclaimer that I assume the readers level to be "advanced user," but it is always the nature of a disclaimer to overstate certain expectations. As to weather or not the "average viewer" of Random Segues fits that level or not, it is much too early to make that judgment. My intent for this article is actually for an intermediate user or even a newbie if they want to be brave, but you will note that through out the entire article I try to give anyone who may start to feel out of their depth plenty of incentive to cease and desist.
Is it scary to muck about in system registry? You bet, if you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing or if you’re flogging about with no direction, catastrophic system failure can certainly be the result. Having said that however, I have never met a self proclaimed "techie" or "geek" that did not at some point start experimenting with various registry edits. So… if that is going to be an inevitable progression, why not give them a project which is in terms of registry edits simple and straight forward to cut their teeth on?
In terms of "is it really worth the effort and risk… for such a small cosmetic?" From my perspective, having been on the tech’s side of the repair counter, it never fails to amaze me just how much importance the average user can place on what amounts to "small cosmetics." I have seen people just absolutely freak out and become totally incapacitated because their desktop has had a minor change. And, unbelievable as it may seem to some, the little arrows on icons really bug the heck out of some users. Just Google it and see how many articles you will find about it.
Now, the purpose of this particular exercise is not as much about getting rid of little arrows, as much as it is to raise certain users’ comfort levels in terms of making more advanced configuration adjustments to their systems. My thoughts were that so many registry edits deal with performance issues that the computer certainly appreciates but which the user is just not going to see; so a registry edit the results of which will actually be apparent on their desktop at reboot would be an appropriate exercise.
Nuff Said?
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This is a good alternative to using TweakUI, which I did not want to install just for this icon arrow trick. Why are those guys whining about simple edits on the registry? It's not rocket science. Just follow instructions, that's all ya gotta do.
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My comments were not intended to be "a whine". I agree. Its not rocket science. Actually, pretty slick!
BUT ... I cringe at the thought of one of my clients even knowing about regedit or even TweakUI!
No, they're not dummies, but, then again, they're not always aware of the consequences of a missed step in the process or even a simple typo.
In a nutshell ... if someone wants to "play" with his/her own, personal, system, go for it! Enjoy! Just don't expect a "quick fix" from "Tech Support" if you mess it up!
AND ... by the way ... there's no guarantee of a "clean" recovery.
Don't mean to be "harbinger of doom", but "been there, done that".
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