Shortcut arrows missing; strange picture instead


  1. Posts : 34
    Windows Pro 7 64-bit
       #1

    Shortcut arrows missing; strange picture instead


    This isn't really a major issue but a minor annoyance.

    Last night my boyfriend popped his removable USB storage drive in. I noticed that documents made in Notepad were opening in Visual Basic, which is not where I want them to open. So I went to properties and told it to open these types of docs in Notepad. Fine, it didn't work, but that's not the weirdest or most annoying part.
    All of my desktop icons, the little arrow that shows it's a short-cut, they're all gone. In their place are those little icons for a file (particularly an image file) that windows doesn't know which program to use to open it. This happened right after I changed the properties of the one file that was not even on my computer.
    I checked for viruses, checked the shortcut properties, even tried deleting the original shortcut and creating a new one; to no avail.
    Does anyone know how to fix this or had this happen to them and know what caused it? Please help. Any help would be great. Thank you.
      My Computer


  2. Arc
    Posts : 35,373
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 64-bit
       #2

    First, try this : Default File Type Associations - Restore

    If not worked, this : System Restore to a previous day .

    Third option : SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

    And if everything failed, the last way is Repair Install ; but it needs the Windows 7 installation DVD. Do you have it ? If no, Do you have the recovery partition at least ?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 11,990
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
       #3

    Check these tutorials:

    Default File Type Associations - Restore

    Default Programs - Associate a File Type or Protocol

    Default Programs - Set a Program's Default Associations

    If you have a Restore Point, you can also try restoring your computer to an earlier time.

    Edited to add: Arc beat me to it.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 71,959
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #4

    Hello DorkPixie,

    In addition, it sounds like you will need to use the txt and lnk (LNK) downloads in the tutorial below to restore their default associations.

    Default File Type Associations - Restore

    Hope this helps,
    Shawn
      My Computer


  5. Arc
    Posts : 35,373
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 64-bit
       #5

    shortcut arrow may be brought back using tuneup utilities
    Shortcut arrows missing; strange picture instead-capture.png

    Or using Shortcut Arrow - Change, Remove, or Restore
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 34
    Windows Pro 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Thank you everyone so very much!!!! This one is the one that brought back my little short cut arrows: Shortcut Arrow - Change, Remove, or Restore
    I am also going to try the restore default file types for the notebook files opening in Visual Studio. Again thanks you guys!!! :)
      My Computer


  7. Arc
    Posts : 35,373
    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 64-bit
       #7

    You are most welcome, dorkpixie
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 11,990
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
       #8

    You are very welcome. I am glad you have half of the battle won.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 2
    Winodws 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #9

    I had a similar issue happen to me today. When I turned on my computer this afternoon the transparent shortcut overlay was replaced with the image of "unknown". Like when windows does not know what program to use to open something. I followed the instructions above which did restore my shortcut arrow. However when I attempt to remove the shortcut arrow again using the Remove_Restore_Shortcut_Arrow I get the same unknown overlay image. Can someone help me. Thanks so much

    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
      My Computer


 

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