Here’s how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP. This is a simple, neat trick. You need to know how to use Registry Editor, and you are done

Just follow the simple steps below to remove the arrow:

1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTlnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP for the changes to take affect.

Enjoy!