William Beaver asked for “a simple, safe” way to remove the arrows from the shortcuts on his desktop. Shortcuts point to files–usually but not always programs–that are stored elsewhere on your drive.

If you have noticed an icon with 2 small blue overlays, then know that it has been placed there by the Windows OS to indicate that the file or folder has been compressed to save disk space. If you are ...

To remove shortcuts from your computer's desktop, just right-click on them and select "Delete" or "Move to Trash." You can also use the Delete key on your keyboard, or drag the shortcuts to the trash.