Windows 10: Remove yellow/blue sheild icon from shortcuts

I found a solution using the imageres.dll from my Windows 10 Pro version
That version had no Blue and Yellow Shield on the icons...
I replaced the imageres.dll in my Home version that had been upgraded and the blue and yellow overlays were gone.
I tried to post the install here...But maybe it violates the rules... But I know that is all you
have to do.. as far as the fix goes.

 

Here is my Windows 10 Desktop now

 

Another thing... With Windows 10 Update Running the Windows and System32 folder are being replaced
and the Blue and Yellow Shield will come back... My Suggestion on top of replacing the imageres.dll...
which can be done from windows using the script fix.bat from above... is to also turn off and on Win10 Update

To Turn Windows 10 Update off .... name the .cmd file something like Stop Win10_Update Service.cmd

net stop wuauservnet
stop bitsnet
stop dosvc
.................................................................................................... ........................................................

To start Windows 10 Update Made a .cmd file Start Win10 Update_Service.cmd

net start wuauservnet
start bitsnet
start dosvc

 

Here is the fix.bat ( Lined Up Better This Time )

@ECHO OFF
CLS
TAKEOWN /f %WINDIR%\system32\imageres.dll && icacls %WINDIR%\system32\imageres.dll /grant administrators:F
rename %windir%\system32\imageres.dll "Imageres_%TIME:~0,2%%TIME:~3,2%%TIME:~6,2%.bak"
COPY imageres.dll %WINDIR%\system32\imageres.dll
CLS
EXIT

 

I also notice that if I replace the imageres.dll but don't replace the arrow
the Blue and Yellow Badges are still there... but if I remove the arrows with a blank.ico
then the Blue and Yellow Badges go away as well... Seems odd... but I can make them
go away if I remove both... You also might think about making the iconcache.db a folder
so that the file iconcache.db doesn't come back... not that that matters... but
it might mean something. I like to hit the problem with a lot of ammo.

 

Alright...so having installed version 1709(Fall Creator's Update) yesterday I found myself needing to do this all over again. And I really wanted to see if I could get it perfected. I found a workaround to fix the black squares I was seeing on my non-desktop icons. But I really wasn't satisfied with having to do that. It involved installing a program called Tweak Power by KurtZimmermann SOFTWARE. Which I had no use for, other than for whatever reason simply having it installed made all my non-desktop icons black square-free. Anyhow...long story short...I went back through this thread and decided to try the method of editing the imageres.dll file with Resource Hacker and IcoFX. Just to see if I could get any better results by doing the work myself. Well...it didn't work any better on my first try. Second try same thing. But...some-fricken-how on the third try it worked perfectly. No more yellow/blue shields, no more black squares...anywhere. Nice! Though I have no idea why. Since I did the exact same thing as the previous 2 attempts. Whatever works...I guess...*sarc

Ok...so same procedure/method I recommended in my last post. Except this time use the edited imageres.dll file(from version 1709) that I've attached here(which is smaller than the one used before from a previous version, and works better for me, hopefully for you too) to replace the one in System32. AND...I don't know how much, if any, difference it makes...but ALSO replace the imageres.dll file in SysWOW64(as recommended by previous posters). Maybe that makes a difference...maybe it doesn't. Maybe more so with a 64-Bit OS...I don't know. It definitely doesn't appear to do any harm. It is the exact same(verified) file in both folders. So there must be a reason for that. And I can't see any reason why you wouldn't want to replace them both. Anyway...works for me. So I recommend you do it too.

EDIT: And it should go without saying...this might not work as well if you aren't currently using version 1709. I did install the edited imageres.dll from the previous version(not even sure which, as it was never mentioned) on 1709. Which did work just as well as it did with 1703. But I can't speak for using the imageres.dll from 1709 with earlier versions. I wouldn't know if it works or not. I did already mention the file size difference. Don't know if that matters or not.

 

My Icons are clean on my desktop... no shortcut arrows and no blue and yellow shield
it's been that way for about a month...

Here is a original imageres.dll that I got from a Professional Version that will work for you too.

The size unzipped is like 23,521,792 kB ( 23.5 MB ) slightly smaller than what is posted above.

Attachment 157106

 

That got me thinking. Why not edit an imageres.dll file to get rid of the yellow/blue shields AND the shortcut arrows all-in-one?

Done!
Attachment 157159 *Thumbs

Side note: FYI the shortcut arrow is Icon Group 163. I applied the same method to remove it as for the yellow/blue shield(reduce opacity to -99). All sizes got the same treatment, so you want be seeing them anywhere(not just on desktop icons/shortcuts). Tested and working. See my previous posts, #34 and #27, for more info and how to install. As previously stated this imageres.dll file is from version 1709(Fall Creator's Update). So I don't guarantee it will work with previous versions.

 

@Michael thank you so much this has been annoying me and I tried many things and finally your fix works. *Smile This site is very good and has very helpful information. Thanks again,

I had previously solved this by editing a system icon file, but that method doesn't seem to be working as of update 1607, plus it was a lot more trouble.[/quote]