What icon is this & how do I get rid of it?

Anybody know what icon this is? If I knew what icon this was I might be able to figure out how to get rid of it. Perhaps you know.

I have some PNG files saved in my pictures directory. I prefer just to view the thumbnails, but something is displaying an icon over the thumbnail a minute or so after I save.

Attached are two screen snapshots. One shows the PNG thumbnail normally immediately after saving the file and the next shows the icon has appeared. (Undepicted is my annoyance which you can leave to your imagination.)

The icon is a right chevron.

I have tried changing the file associations and folder properties but have not found what controls this.

No, I don't have any viruses. Yes, I checked the control panel to search for applications that might have a similar icon.

Thats a software program overlay and I don't know which one it is. Have you recently added or removed a program that would associate with png files. Is it only png files it happens with?

It might help you to find the cause by downloading ShellExView and ShellMenuView
from NirSoft

@billynomates,

I tried downloading both tools, neither found any applications that have the icon next to them nor file types with that icon.

Note: I have set the default application (for a test) for some PNG files to be PBRUSH and others Windows Media Player, but they both get the same icon.

Note: I was about to say that JPG files have the same icon over it (the right chevron).
However: I found a directory with some JPG files that have a green icon with a checkmark on it. When copying the file, the copy gets a blue chevron icon vs. the original file with the green checkmark.

One more thing: I checked the properties of each file and they appear to have the same properties, but NOTE THIS: The Backup tab in the file properties shows the same icon in the STATE field. Note that the other information about the backup time etc. appears to be the same.

So now I have a clue and further confusion. Is the icon related to the state in some way and what does it mean if so? In any case, I still don't want to show it.

One more tidbit, other files, not just graphics have the icon. TXT files will show the chevron also.

Finally, I just poked about in a lot of directories. It seems that this phenomenon only exists in the user directories that are not in the default windows locations.

That is, I moved user directory to another drive outside of the windows installation drive.

So, my interim conclusion is that this is a Windows 7 feature. All my files and directories have been working just fine, but now that I think about it, these icons started appearing several days ago after I made the move off C:

I plan to keep the user directory OFF the C: drive, but would certainly like to know how to turn off these strange icons.

I've always kept the "My Documents" and any other personal folders, including the Send To on separate partitions or physical drives. I can say I've never come across this icon.

Just for info, my system is an independent build so when I brought it the only stuff on any drives was Win7. Maybe it's manufacturer related?

I've seen somebody else with a mysterious icon overlay issue that was software or manufacturer related. But, as life is, when you want to find the thread to post a link, you can't!!

I'm looking though. It's on this site somewhere.

Found the thread I was looking for! It's here!

Looks like this is the solution:

gladson1976 said:

Do you have Norton 360 installed ?
If yes, then it is the feature called "Backup Status Indicators" which clearly identifies which files have been backed up, which files are pending backup and which are excluded from backup. This feature is responsible for the Tick mark (green box) and double arrow (blue box) overlay icons.

You can disable it in Norton 360 settings. Unselect the "Backup Status Indicators" checkbox on the right in settings

Check this link
Green Tick or Blue Arrows Icon Overlay Displayed for Files in Windows Explorer - The Winhelponline Blog

Click to expand...

~Lordbob

Thank you both! This is indeed an Norton issue. As I have the Comcast version of the Norton Security Suite, not all the controls are the same as for 360, however, I am armed now to resolve this. Kudos!