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

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