Read: How to Center Taskbar Icons in Windows 10
Remove Shortcut Arrow Overlay on Windows 10
1. Using the Registry
It’s the easiest way to get rid of the arrow overlay. You don’t need an extra app and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Let’s see how to do it. Open Start Menu and search for Registry Editor
Tap Yes, when prompted “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your PC? Before we move ahead, it’s important to take a back-up of the registry. To do that, Tap on File and select Export. Give it a name that suits you or add the current date and save. This is very helpful to restore the registry to the original state.
Using the browser bar on the left, browser to the following path
You might already have a subkey named “Shell Icons”. If not, then create a new one by Right-click on the Explorer folder, click New and tap on Key. Name the New Folder as Shell Icons.
Then Right Click on the Shell Icon folder that we made or in the empty space inside the folder. Tap on New and select String Value and name this “29”.
Now we’ll change the value. To do that double click on “29”. Now copy and paste the value below in the Value Data field and hit Ok.
Voila, it’s done. Now restart the PC or log off and in again to you’ll see the required changes.
2. Winaero Tweaker
Not everyone wants to go through multiple steps of using a Registry Editor, this is another way you can remove the shortcut overlay. All you have to do is download and install an application named Winaero Tweaker. For anyone looking for a solution with a simple click, this is the way to go. Here’s how to do it. Download and Install the application from the link below Open the application and scroll to the Shortcut tab from the side panel. You can also type it in the search bar at the top.
Select the Shortcut arrow and choose No Arrow.
You’ll be prompted to Restart the Explorer. If you want to see the changes right away choose Restart Explorer. You can also do it manually through the Task Manager.
There are plenty of other things you can do with the application, like adding a custom icon instead of the arrow overlay, using the old classic Windows arrow, change themes, modify start-up sound, etc. Get Winaero Tweaker
Closing Remarks
Both ways will work fluently. However, some users have reported the Registry method to not work sometimes, especially on Windows 10. Use Winaero Tweaker instead if that’s the case. So, here were was how to remove the arrow shortcut overlay on Windows. Do you have something easier? Do let me know in the comment section below. Also read How to Fix “Boot Manager Is Missing” in Windows 10
