Remove or modify the arrow used on shortcuts

By default, each shortcut file will have an arrow icon to indicate that it's a pointer to another file/folder.

This tweak removes the shortcut arrow

* Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
* Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Shell Icons

* Backup the key by exporting it to a file
* In the right-pane, create a new String value named 29
* Double-click 29 and set its Value data as:

C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,50

(shell32.dll,50 is a empty icon)

* Close Registry Editor.

To apply the changes instantly, follow this

* Right-click Desktop, choose Properties
* Click the Appearance Tab.
* Click Advanced button
* Choose Icon from the drop-down list
* Set it's size to 31 and press OK, OK.

The changes will be applied now. Repeat the above steps and then set the Icon size back to 32 (defaults). The above steps are required to force Windows to redraw the icons.

Warning: If you choose None, you cannot differentiate between the shortcut and the actual file/folder. You may end-up copying a shortcut to a file in situations where you need the original file. Hence, removing the arrow is not advisable.