Hello Brink!!! Yes everything is fine when AV program is enabled!!! Yippeee!!!!
You have been wonderful!!!
Is this the place to get advise on a good AV free program for my operating system? I would like to keep dealing with you because you sure know your stuff!!!!
Best regards,
LoveSunrises
Great news.
Go ahead and create a new thread in System Security for the AV since it's off topic from the tutorial, and I'll be happy to help there. :)
Thank you Brink I just posted my thread :)
Love Sunrise posts a little scattered and difficult for me to follow the issue she had... will let it go, and just get used to the default arrows on browse. I did disable AVG and do a clean Option 1 install, but had tried that before posting here...Cyd,
I'm not sure why it's doing that in only that location. You might see if you may have the same issue that LoveSunrises did with her AV program, and temporarily disable it while using the program in OPTION ONE.
Thanks for your help :)
I've always liked this Vista Shortcut Overlay Manager program that Brink has available on his first post.
I also liked to do the procedure manually too, but this program has always made it much easier to swap icons around when I want to test different ones for shortcut overlays.
One of my favorite icons in it is the Light option that you can choose, it's inner 32x32 icon looks great on the Desktop especially over the yellow folders, etc, but I've come to realize sometimes it gets engulfed in a similar icon color scheme and makes it harder to see that it's a shortcut. This is very evident even more-so when you open up Explorer and the smaller 16x16 size is in use - and it's here that the Light version is even more visually problematic to differentiate its shortcuts on similar colored icons. Frustrated by this I would always go back to the old standby of wxpArrow.ico, because of it's squared outlined backdrop you could always tell a shortcut no matter where you were which was great.
I've always wanted to find something similar to the wxpArrow.ico because when you're using Windows 7 for instance, you want to have something Newer Looking but still be effective as that old one.
Today using IcoFX I've come up with a solution and have made a new icon that gives me the best of both worlds, with the same functional design of the wxp original but with a Windows 7 flavor to it. It's nothing fancy but I like it better than the original wxp color style, and now better than the Light option version.
Here's a 'screenshot' comparison of the wxp original to the new 7 style of it:
If you like my new wxpArrow7.ico I'll share, you can download it here:
wxpArrow7.zip
Just unzip and place the wxpArrow7.ico file into:
C:\Program Files\Frameworkx\Vista Shortcut Manager
..and then run the program as usual choosing the Custom Arrow option, and selecting to use wxpArrow7.ico and click apply, and let it logoff/logon to use it.
Also lately on subsequent installs I've been using Option One with it's "Windows Shortcut Arrow Editor" which works on 7 without having to install .NET like Option Two does using ''Vista Shortcut Manager'' and so here just substitute the wxpArrow7 icon within that procedure instead.
Either way it's the icon you use that's the benefit, these days I prefer using the Arrow7 icon no matter the OS.
After implementing in the rare event that you don't see the icon display after logon, then you can use this excellent method by Brink to re-build your Icon Cache: Rebuild Icon Cache
...which you should do every so often anyway, as well you can increase your icon cache size for its benefits using this method by Brink here: Increase your icon-cache size
Anyway definitely after rebuilding your icon-cache you will see it if you hadn't already the first time.
Hope you enjoy it.
Last edited by endeavor; 06 Nov 2014 at 16:22. Reason: wording
Using W764 Ultimate and had removed the shortcut arrow so long ago I don't remember what method I used. But tonight I suddenly got black square icons in my folders (Details View), while Desktop icons were fine. The method to fix this was to delete the Shell Icons key. When I rebooted the black icon problem was fixed, but the shortcut arrow was back (reverted to the default).
I tried the methods in the OP (except for Option Two because it did not note the icon number required to remove the arrow)... but whenever the shortcut arrow got fixed, the black icons would return. (Also the "Blank.ico" would not stay transparent. It kept turning black while I had no "UNBLOCK" button on the General tab which was supposed to indicate it was already unblocked.)
Then I tried the following which finally worked. It's basically Option Two but with the actual number required to remove the arrow:
1. regedit to (or create the following key):
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/Shell Icons
2. If there is a value already named "29" click on it to modify it.
If there is not a "29" value listed, right-click on blank space -> New -> String Value
and name it "29". Then click on it to modify it.
3. Under "Value Data" paste the following:
C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,50
Reboot. (You can try logging out and back in but best to reboot.)
Last edited by Brink; 14 Feb 2013 at 12:50.
You're welcome and happy to help.
A final note here because it might help someone else...
After that fix worked I later rebooted and the icons in Explorer for program shortcuts (vs folder icons) were black squares again, though Desktop icons were fine (and no arrow of course). The icons would appear in full color for a split second, then would be repainted in black. FTR I use Explorer in Details view.
After trying dozens of fixes from rebuilding icon and thumb caches to dancing a jig with a beer stein on my head, I finally found the problem. I had changed the display of text under Personalization/Display/"Set Custom Text Size" from the default of 100% to a custom 110% which Windows apparently can't scale up to properly when it comes to displaying icons in Explorer. When I chose 100% the icons in Explorer were displayed properly again, as they are with the other Windows-provided choice of 125%. I don't know why Windows offers the option to enter a custom percentage for text if it's going to screw up Explorer-icon-display, but maybe there is some extenuating circumstance on my system that prevents it from scaling the icons properly.
IAC if you have black icons in Explorer and can't figure out why and nothing else works, try right-clicking on Desktop -> Personalize -> Display -> "Set Custom Text Size (DPI)" and chose one of the defaults you are not already using and see if that fixes it. If you are already using one of the defaults, chose a different default, then log off/back on and switch back to the default of choice.
As always, thanks to all for all the great help here.
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