Windows 10: My documents folder and desktop and downloads have a small left square with a blue arrow in...

On my home windows 10pro pc, under c:\use\ron my documents folder and desktop and downloads have a small left square with a blue arrow in them.all other users do not have them. and i do not have one drive or google drive installed... help

:)

 

Downloads folder is the Documents folder

Hi Chris,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to Restore to Default the folders and document settings and see if it helps.

Step 1:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Download folder.
• Right click on the Download Folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

Step 2:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Documents folder.
• Right click on the Document folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

After performing above steps change the settings as you required and check if it helps.

Hope these information helps, please get back to us for future support, we’ll be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

How to remove arrows from desktop icons in Windows 10 without getting black squares?

Part 1 - Remove arrows once (will break on reboot or re-login)

• Type regedit in the Windows search bar and select regedit at the top of the list.
  
• In the regedit program, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
  
• Right click on the Explorer folder, hover over New, then click Key. Name it Shell Icons and click enter or whatever to create it.
  
• Click the new Shell Icons folder. In the right pane, right click on the empty space, hover over New, and click String Value. Name it 29.
  
• Double click the String Value 29 you just created and give it the following value data: %windir%\System32\shell32.dll,-50
  
• May or may not have to reboot I forget. Check your desktop icons first to see.
  

Part 2 - Fix the black squares problem

When you reboot or login after Part 1, where the arrows once were there will now be black squares. To permanently fix the black squares problem, a short script will run automatically every time you login to fix the icons before you see them. Non-programmers can easily follow these simple steps.

• Open Notepad.
  
• Paste in the following and save it to the desktop as fixdesktopicons.bat (name not important, file extension .bat is important). Basically it deletes the corrupted part of the icon data.
  
  
• Press Windows key + r
  
• Type shell:startup and press OK. This will open a folder where you can put scripts that you want to have run automatically whenever you login.
  
• Copy the script (.bat file) from your desktop and paste it into this folder you reached by doing shell:startup.
  
• Reboot the computer for changes to take effect.
  

Now whenever you login or reboot there will be nice icons with no arrows and no black squares either.

 

Mysterious Blue Double-Arrows Added to Windows Desktop File & Folder Icons

The fact that Microsoft released something like this with no documentation, no notice, no off-switch, etc... shows that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

The fact that the solutions for this involve either registry hacks or widespread decompression of files is idiocy.

The fact that people putting themselves forward as "experts" without doing even a cursory google search is asinine.

DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU PROVIDE AN ANSWER!

• norton has nothing to do with this
• it involves compressed files
• it is part of windows

Yes Norton is one of the worst pieces of software on the market but this situation cropped up after an update so the solution
obviously would not have been in lanedog33's 2010
post.

Anyone with an IQ over room temperature should be able to deduce this quickly enough.

2 example posts of what is out there:

Windows 10 and the Double Arrow icon of death

http://nerdshack.info/windows-10-and-double-arrow-icon-of-death/

November 29th, 2015

"Somewhere in the recent TH2 builds a new overlay was introduced to indicate compressed files/folders."

“TH2” or “the real Windows 10”

Change or Remove Double Blue Arrows Icon on Compressed Files and Folders in Windows 10

Change or Remove Double Blue Arrows Icon on Compressed Files and Folders in Windows 10

03/01/2016

the compressed folders will display blue arrows at the top right corner of the folders