Remove/Reduce Shortcut arrows on Windows 7 64 bit

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The thread: ‘Arrows on shortcuts’ has been closed, so I have opened a new one.

I have Windows 7 Pro (64 bit). I am looking for a utility to remove/reduce the size of the shortcut arrows placed on the desktop icons.

I have found two that seem to do one or more of these tasks.

To reduce the size of the shortcut arrow:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3606-shortcut-arrow-change-remove-restore.html
Use Option #1

To eliminate the shortcut arrow:
The above one, plus:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista

I would prefer the one that reduces the arrow size, but I could live with either.

My questions are:
1. Does anyone have any experience with one or either of these choices?
2. If so, are you still able to pin the shortcut on the taskbar?
3. Are there any downsides to the one(s) you have used?

And if there are other proven options, I would appreciate them. I used TweakIU on my XP, which removed the arrow, but it does not work in Win 7.

Harry

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I’ve played with Ultimate Windows Tweaker. It seems to not harm a system.

From the sevenforums article you could pretty easily use the registry downloads and not have to run a program.

Joe

--Joe

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From the sevenforums article you could pretty easily use the registry downloads and not have to run a program.

Joe

Reading through the comments on either that site, or others that referenced it, there seemed to be some controversy about side effects caused by making those changes directly, so I did not want to chance it.

Harry

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I’ve used the Vista Overlay Manager and it works without problems for me and it’s simple to use.
Joe

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Joe S:

Good to know that it works. Are you able to still pin a shortcut to the taskbar?

Harry

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Yes I have pinned the shortcuts to the task bar. It only seems to remove the arrow and hasn’t caused any other changes that I know of. I started using it in Vista.
Joe

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Joe S:

I downloaded/installed the 64 bit version of Vista Shortcut Overlay Manager. I chose the small arrow option, to see what it looks like. Works fine, and as you said, can pin/unpin the shortcut to the taskbar.

It seemed to be less clear how to actually REMOVE what you set. There was a different document that addressed that subject. I would think you could just open the program again and select the Arrow (default) and you would be back to the way Windows created it. Have you ever tried to remove an arrow (or no arrow) that you set?

Harry

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I never tried to restore the arrow I think you would just select arrow and it would be back to default.
Joe

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