Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch
la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.
Whenever you see a little arrow at the bottom of an icon, it indicates that the symbol opens a program and not a file. I think Microsoft does this mainly because they think I’m stupid enough to not be able to find a program file on my desktop.
If you don’t like the arrow ruining the aesthetic of you icon, there are several methods for removing it. Most of them involve making changes to the registry which is always dangerous. There are other methods that involve using the Windows shell which can be difficult.
Over the years I’ve seen many other tweaking programs that remove the arrow. Once I read about a program that changed the icon picture to one without the arrow. Needless to say, all of these methods are either time consuming, difficult, unsafe or just plain stupid.
You’ve probably guessed by now that I don’t like the arrow on my icons. For several years, I’ve used the Windows Shortcut Editor program. If you download and unzip the program you will find folders for Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. The program(s) do not install or change anything on your computer. Just run the correct EXE application and you will see the screen shown in the accompanying screen shot.
There are four different options. Click the one you want and Windows will refresh to give your icons the new look. You can select the Windows default arrow for your system, the Windows classic (XP) arrow or no arrows. The custom option lets you replace the arrow with your own design. The ZIP file also contains a ‘Shortcut Arrows’ folder for a few ready made arrows that you can use.
A word of caution. Removing the arrow not only changes the icons on your desktop but also the icons in any of folder throughout the computer. If you browse your computers folders, you will lose the visual identification of a shortcut. You can download the software at WINAERO.
If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.