Blue Double Arrows

Anonymous
2010-03-10T14:16:08+00:00

What are the blue double arrows that sometimes appear on my desktop icons and pictures and how can I get rid of them?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2010-03-10T15:05:51+00:00

Do you have Norton 360 or some other Norton security suite?   If so, that's why.  The double blue icons means there are files that haven't been backed up. It can be turned off.  Go to Norton 360 http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/dtree.jsp?pvid= and learn how to turn it off, reboot and they will be gone.  For anyone that does have Norton 360, if you kept it turned on, when you backed up the files, the icon would turn a solid green arrow instead of the 2 blue arrows.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-11T03:47:25+00:00

    Have tried all of these.  None gets rid of those blue arrows.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-30T22:04:32+00:00

    Simple and fast way to remove double arrows. The double blue arrows indicate that the files were automatically compressed.

    1. Open File Explorer and navigate to your top level directory (i.e. Documents)
    2. Right click on that directory name and select "Properties" from the bottom (at the bottom of the list)
    3. Under the General tab, select Advanced in the bottom right corner.
    4. Deselect "Compress contents to save disk space"
    5. Click "OK"
    6. Select "Apply" in the bottom left corner
    7. You will get a pop-up > Select option two - Apply changes to all folders and sub-folders
    8. Dialog screen will appear that files are being changed. Blue arrows will be gone.
    9. Repeat for other top level directories (i.e. Pictures)

    Microsoft never fails to disappoint. It's a terrible idea to place an egregious icon on every file in a drive that a user may want to keep compressed.

    Thank you for informing of this fix. I don't know of any way to discover why the icon appears using Microsoft's provided help files.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-19T00:15:36+00:00

    You could also just instead of going to each folder you could just go to:

    -This PC 

    -Local Disk or (C:)

    -Properties

    -Deselect (Compress Contents to Save Disk Space)

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