Since effectively the beginning of Windows existence any time a new shortcut was created Windows would add “Shortcut” to the link. To many, this is a highly annoying trait. As Windows already changes the icon of a shortcut by overlaying the arrow icon in the bottom corner, changing the text as well is simply overkill. Being succinct and clean is something Microsoft hasn’t really been painted as, no doubt.

Addressing the annoyance is actually rather simple – it just requires a quick stop within the Windows Registry.

Launch regedit from the Windows search menu.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Within the Explorer folder you will find a key titled link - if for some reason it is missing you can create it with a right-click. Double-click the key to change it’s value from 1e 00 00 00 to 00 00 00 00.

To fully apply the change you will need to restart Windows Explorer; the easiest way being to log off and back onto Windows. All newly created Shortcuts will now lose the additional text on creation and instead will just be titled the name of the application it points to – with the arrow overlay on the icon still, of course.

This registry change isn’t reserved to just Windows 7 – it will work on all previous iterations of Windows as well.