Shortcut Arrows

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doug Parrish
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Doug Parrish

Is there a simple way to remove the shortcut Desktop icon arrows in VISTA? I
know all my icons are shortcuts...I don't need those annoying little arrows
to keep populating the Desktop. Anyone on this list know how to get rid of
them, once and for all?

Thanks much.

Doug Parrish
 
See this link from my website:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/remove_shortcut_arrows_from_desktop_icons.htm

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Windows Desktop Experience

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You posted that question yesterday and you're getting the same answers. Post
it again tomorrow... and you'll get the same answers.
 
Sorry about the double posting. Yesterday's post never showed up in my
listing yesterday, and searching through the list today produced nothing
either; hence, the "second" request.

The FrameWorkx download accomplished the task very nicely and just as
described.

Thank you again.

Doug Parrish
 
Is there a simple way to remove the shortcut Desktop icon arrows in VISTA? I
know all my icons are shortcuts...I don't need those annoying little arrows
to keep populating the Desktop. Anyone on this list know how to get rid of
them, once and for all?
Click to expand...


You've already gotten "how to" answers, but my recommendation is that
you do *not* do this. The arrows serve an important
function--providing quick visual identification of a shortcut. If you
remove the arrows, you run the substantial risk that sooner or later
you will delete something you wanted to keep, thinking that you were
just deleting a shortcut to it.

Note that if you remove the arrows, you remove them from *all*
shortcuts, not just shortcuts on the desktop.
 
O.K.
Another poster reported similar problems of not seeing his post. Sorry, if I
sounded snippy there, but some posters have a habit of asking same question
twice, hoping for the "right" answer.

And, uh, I agree with Ken. I think you're going to have more problems in the
long run if you eliminate those shortcut arrows. Hopefully not.

Cheers....
 
Now there's something I had not thought of. But I know my way around
computers pretty well, starting out with an Apple IIe in the early 1980's.

However, doesn't deleting the non-arrow-embedded icon on the Desktop delete
only the icon itself, even if it refers directly to an application? The
application is still there, whether it has a reference icon or not. Wouldn't
you have to go to the uninstall screen to actually get rid of an
application?

Doug Parrish
==========
 
Now there's something I had not thought of. But I know my way around
computers pretty well, starting out with an Apple IIe in the early 1980's.

However, doesn't deleting the non-arrow-embedded icon on the Desktop delete
only the icon itself, even if it refers directly to an application? The
application is still there, whether it has a reference icon or not. Wouldn't
you have to go to the uninstall screen to actually get rid of an
application?
Click to expand...

Some people actually put the program itself in/on their desktop. Don't
ask me why. I can't think of a reason.
 
I am using a free program called Vista Shortcut Overlay Manager from
Frameworkx.com which was introduced to me by somebody in this group few
months ago.
 
Now there's something I had not thought of. But I know my way around
computers pretty well, starting out with an Apple IIe in the early 1980's.

However, doesn't deleting the non-arrow-embedded icon on the Desktop delete
only the icon itself, even if it refers directly to an application?
Click to expand...


Yes, that's correct.

The
application is still there, whether it has a reference icon or not. Wouldn't
you have to go to the uninstall screen to actually get rid of an
application?
Click to expand...


Yes. My point is not that there's danger in deleting a shortcut, but
that there's danger of deleting something that you think is a
shortcut, but actually isn't.

I don't keep anything on my desktop that isn't a shortcut. So I might
say that I don't need the arrows, since I know that everything there
will always be a shortcut. But every once in a rare while, I might put
a data file, for example, there, perhaps in preparation for
transferring it somewhere else. It's *because* this is a very rare
event for me that the risk of mixing it up with a shortcut exists.

And that risk becomes higher if you look at other folders besides the
desktop that contain shortcuts.

I can't tell you how great the risk is for you. If you want to do
this, obviously it's your choice. My view is that you are increasing
the risk by some amount, no matter how small, in return for what I
consider to be no advantage at all. I don't have any problem with the
arrows being there, and therefore I wouldn't do this, and always
recommend against it.

But again, it's your choice.
 
That's exactly the same program I used to remove the shortcut arrows from
the Desktop. What's especially nice about this program by Frameworkx is that
you can bring the arrows back if you ever tire of not seeing them there. So
it's not as though their removal were an irretrievable event. It's not. It
can be reversed.

Doug Parrish

Camera said:
I am using a free program called Vista Shortcut Overlay Manager from
Frameworkx.com which was introduced to me by somebody in this group few
months ago.
Click to expand...
 
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