Fortunately, you can easily remove the arrows from your shortcuts to make your desktop and File Explorer look cleaner. In this article, we will guide you through two different methods: using the Windows Registry and using a free third-party tool.

Firstly, it’s important to always back up your registry before making any changes. Begin by pressing Win + R to open the Run dialog box.

Then type “regedit” and hit Enter. If you already have a folder of the same name, go into the existing one.

Next, in the Value data field, enter: %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50. Once this is done, to apply the changes, you need to restart Windows Explorer.

Right-click on the taskbar, launch Task Manager, find Windows Explorer in the list, right-click it, and select Restart. This should remove the shortcut arrows.

If you ever want to restore them, simply delete the Shell Icons key you created.