How to remove shortcut arrow icon in Windows 7?

Well, if you frequently customize your system, you might get to point where you want to know how to remove the shortcut arrow icon in Windows 7. With a little registry hack, we can safely remove the shortcut arrow icon.

Method 1: Registry Hack – Add blank ico to remove shortcut arrow

1. Ok, so first open up the registry (Start -> enter regedit.exe into search field and hit enter)
2. Uncollapse the following registry entries [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Icons]
3. Next, we have to create a new string value with the value “29″.

Right-click on the right pane and select “New” and then “String Value”:

Enter “29” as the name of the string value. Then double-click on the entry and insert the following line:

C:\Windows\Blank.ico,0

Important: Only enter C: if that is your drive where you installed Windows. Change it accordingly.

4. Download this blank .ico file and copy it to C:\Windows or wherever your Windows folder is. It is a blank icon that will basically replace your shortcut arrow icon with a blank icon.

If you want to do it manually, you can also simply create a blank .ico file with the help of http://convertico.com (simply insert a blank .png and convert it. That’s what I did to create the blank .ico file to replace the shortcut arrow icon).

5. Either clear the Windows 7 icon cache or restart.

6. Voilà, you have successfully removed the shortcut arrow icon in Windows 7!

Download Windows 7 Registry Hack

Important: This registry hack works only on Windows 7 32-bit!

You can also simply download the following registry file and double-click on it and it will automatically add the necessary registry keys:

Remove Shortcut Arrow Icon Registry Hack

Inside the .reg file you will find this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Icons]
“29″=”%SystemRoot%\\Blank.ico,0″

Method 2: Tool – Shortcut Overlay Remover (Vista + Windows 7)

You can also download the following handy download from Softpedia that allows you to remove the shortcut arrow icon:

Shortcut Overlay Remover FxVisot