Colin's Weekly Tip:Wipe out Pesky Arrows in Shortcuts

[Colin]

A few weeks ago a reader asked me if I knew how to removed those pesky arrows that come with shortcut icons. At the time I didn't know how to do that, but I do now and it's a very easy. <BR>Let's open up regedit, go to Start then run and from there type regedit. From there follow this path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT -> lnkfile (that's an L). Inside there rename the IsShortcut String value to AriochIsShortcut. Reboot your machine and now you will notice all your shortcut icon's no longer have that annoying little arrow. This works with both WindowsXP and Win2k, I'm not sure if it works with Win98 to be honest I haven't even touched a Win9x based OS in the last year.<BR>

[Ed]

Yes it works in Win 9x Colin, thanks for the tip, I always hated those things

[Spearco]

<br><br><< <i><< <i>Inside there rename the IsShortcut String value to AriochIsShortcut</i> >><BR><BR> I see no IsShortcut String value, I see the [name (Default), Type REG_SZ, Data Inkfile] and the Value Data: Infile. I'm running on AMD, os- XP pro</i> >><br><br> Your tips are very helpful.

[Ginsu543]

Colin,<BR><BR>Do you know how to change the shortcut arrow to a light arrow? I actually like the idea of arrows on shortcuts so I can tell the difference between the actual program icon and a shortcut for it. But I hate the default arrow they have. TweakUI has an option to change the arrow from the regular one to a light one, but after I upgraded a Win98 patch, that functionality of TweakUI was lost. Now, I only get the big, fat arrow on all my shortcuts. But I would like to get the light arrow back, using the Registry.

[Colin]

Ginsu543 I'm not sure but I'll see if I can get an answer for you.

[Ginsu543]

Thanks, Colin!

[asbo]

Ginsu543,<BR><BR>This is very possible, I have done it several times. All you need to do is a little resource hacking.<BR><BR>Before you do this, make sure you have all the updates, or you'll probably end up doing it again.<BR>If you'd like to make a backup, copy a second "shell32.dll" to C:, in case something goes wrong.<BR><BR>1) Go get <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/">Resource Hacker</a><BR>2) Extract the program.<BR>3) Copy "shell32.dll" to any folder (I prefer to use /Resource Hacker/Hacks)<BR>4) Open "tweakUI.cpl" in RH, and find and extract the transparent arrow icon to a .RES file (I used "TweakUI Trans Arrow.RES")<BR>5) Load up the COPIED "shell32.dll" and find the normal shortcut arrow under the "Icon" folder. (I seem to recall it being "133", but let me double-check that).<BR>6) Save the hacked "shell32.dll".<BR>7) Reboot in MS-DOS Mode or using a boot disk.<BR><BR>%path% = where your hacked "shell32.dll" is, I.E. "C:RHHacksshell32.dll"<BR><BR>8) Type "copy %path% c:windowssystem" If it asks to overwrite, say Y.<BR>9) Reboot, and all should be well.<BR><BR>If it isn't, reboot back to DOS, and type "copy c:shell32.dll c:windowssystem"<BR><BR>If you need any help, <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="mailto:chris2glfn@yahoo.com">drop me a line</a>. If you don't want to mess with extracting the icon from TweakUI, let me know, and I can give you a copy.<BR><BR>Good luck,<BR>asbo

[EtherFox]

<i>A small side note:</i><BR>You don't actually have to restart the compy, I was actually tinkering w/ this and the refresh at the same time and I changed my moniter back to 75htz kinda surprised ta find that the settings went ahead and applied themselves. ... Than again, I have also been messing with a lot of NView settings simultaneously, so perhaps a second opinion may be needed (Like I'm gonna double-check for the likes of shortcut arrows <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0">)

[Ginsu543]

Etherfox,<BR><BR>Thanks for the info! It worked like a charm!!! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

[Ginsu543]

asbo,<BR><BR>Thanks to you, I got my transparent arrows!!! Resource Hacker is a pretty powerful utility. When I have more time, I plan to fool around with it more. It seems to me that you can use RH to change the default image of any icon that is 32-bit. I've always thought some icons look stupid, so I'm gonna change them myself!

[JakkFrost]

There is another option to editing the registry. There are at least a few customization programs available that will let you change the shortcut arrow or remove it altogether. I can't remember the name of the one I used, but it was not one that had to be left running for the changes to stick around.<BR><BR>I had seen an arrow I liked used as a comet cursor on a website, so I snagged the pic out of my Temporary Internet Files folder (don't remember if it was an .ani or .cur or something else), used Axialis AxIcons to edit it to an .ico, and added it to my custom icon dll. Then I used this program to select that arrow as my shortcut arrow.<BR><BR>That's it. didn't have to play with the registry, or hack anything. <BR><BR>It also let me change other default icons such as My Computer and Network, as well as the C: drive icon in Explorer, among other things.<BR><BR>As I said, I can't remember the name of the program, but there are several similar available. If anyone wants I'll try to find the name of the program I used though. <BR><BR>And this way, you can make these kind of changes on a whim.<BR>

[Ginsu543]

That is exactly what TweakUI is supposed to do, but after some Windows updates, I lost that functionality. However, your post gave me another idea. I do have a program called E-Icons (great shareware) that allows you to reskin icons with whatever icon images you want. It may be possible to use E-Icons to remap the arrow icon I wanted to be the Shortcut icon. To be honest, since the problem is already fixed I'm not too motivated to check this out, but I think it could work just as well.

[JakkFrost]

My bad, I thought you meant TweakUI ONLY gave the one option for a lighter arrow.

[AuldYin]

Hi Colin,<BR>First, thank you for your excellent tips feature. I used your information and got rid of the shortcut arrows OK in W98 SE. However for my most used programs I prefer the Keyboard shortcuts Al+Ctrl+. I have found that since altering the registry these keys do not work. I have restored the registry but they still don't work, and the aarrows have nt come back either. Any ideas how to restore the functionality of the keyboard shortcuts. Incidentally I can recreate these shortcut keys but they don't survive a reboot.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0">

[potblowfish]

So does anyone remember the registry tweak to remove the "shortcut To" from shortcuts? It used to be on the 2nd page of the tip archives, which is now MIA.

[potblowfish]

and now that i think of it, how about the registry tweak for cutting win xp boot times? anyone who remembers... drop a reply

[Ordengate]

Now, if only you would teach us how to remove all the shortcuts from our desktop on windows 2000 pro. I'm more of a start menu person. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0">

[JimSmith1962]

I'm trying out XP 64 bit, and tried using Power Toys for XP but they don't like each other. Does anyone know if there is a way to disable the "Short cut to" when there is a short cut placed on the desktop?