Windows 10: Shortcuts on desktop repeatedly cycle between checkmark, X, account, and down arrow symbols

Hello,Shortcuts normally have a little arrow symbol in the bottom left of their icon, to show it's a shortcut. A little over a week ago, all the shortcuts on my desktop started periodically cycling between a down arrow symbol, then what looks like an accounts symbol, to a grey X, then finally a green checkmark before doing the whole cycle again. It only takes a few seconds to complete a cycle, and will continue for up to several minutes before the icons return to the normal shortcut symbol or no symbol at all. It's incredibly distracting to have all the icons doing this in the background wh

:)

 

Desktop Arrow Symbols

The arrow symbol in your screen capture is the standard arrow for a shortcut, it does not mean compression !!

For a step by step registry hack to remove these standard shortcut arrows -
Click HERE

 

Shortcuts on desktop: X instead of arrow

Recently I started seeing a change in my desktop shortcuts.
There should be an arrow in the lower-right corner of each shortcut icon.
But lately I'm seeing an X appear there. That's the left-hand image seen here ...



When I refresh the desktop (right-click > Refresh) the normal arrow re-appears. That's the right-hand image, above.

This "X" thing affects all shortcuts on the desktop.
It appears intermittently.
It disappears after a refresh.
It reappears randomly.

Whuzzup with that?

 

Erroneous symbols at the bottom left corner of desktop icons

I'm running Windows 10 with the latest updates. A few days ago, the icons for objects on the desktop changed appearance. The icons are correct but
all have a symbol at the bottom left corner:

• Shortcuts show the correct shortcut symbol
• All files erroneously show a shortcut symbol
• Almost all folders erroneously show a shortcut symbol
• Some folders erroneously show "X"

The icons for files and folders (including the Desktop folder) displayed using File Explorer are all normal.

I would appreciate any suggestions.