![](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/w10-compression-overlay-2.png\")
<\/p>\nAfter installing Windows 10, you may notice that some of your files and folders show up with a double blue arrows icon at the top. This double blue arrows overlay icon is seen if the files and folders are compressed (NTFS compression), and there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n
This post tells you how to hide or remove the double blue arrow icons on folders or files in Windows 10.<\/p>\n
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When you enable NTFS compression for a file or folder, the blue double arrows icon overlay appears on the top right corner of the file or folder. This is to indicate to the user that the folder or file is compressed.<\/p>\n
It’s possible that Windows 10 has compressed the folders in your user profile folder to free up enough disk space to install important updates. This is especially true if you have a low-capacity hard drive, your system partition size is small, or the hard drive is low on disk space<\/a>.<\/p>\n For example, the Windows 10 reliability update<\/a> does that.<\/p>\n To help free up disk space, this update may compress files in your user profile directory so that Windows Update can install important updates. When files or folders are compressed, they appear as having two blue arrows overlaid on the icon. Depending on your File Explorer settings, you may see icons that look larger or smaller.<\/p>\n So, that’s the reason why your desktop shortcuts (e.g., Microsoft Office application shortcuts) are compressed, but the corresponding executables in Program Files aren’t compressed.<\/p>\n Additionally, Window 10 also compresses certain files and folders in your Windows directory. For example. the To remove the 2 blue arrows icon, you have two options:<\/p>\n To remove the blue arrows icon on a file or folder, disable compression via the file or folder’s properties dialog.<\/p>\n The file or folder will now be uncompressed, and the two blue arrow icon overlay will be removed.<\/p>\n Disabling NTFS compression may not always be the best solution, especially if you have limited hard disk space. In that case, you may use the following registry edit (cosmetic) to simply hide the annoying double blue arrow icon for compressed files and folders.<\/p>\n (The registry edit below\u00a0overrides the compressed files overlay shell icon That’s it! The two blue arrows that showed up for some files and folders are now removed\/hidden. If you don’t want Windows to compress your files automatically in the future, increase the size<\/a> of your system partition, or invest in a higher-capacity hard disk drive. And, you can free up<\/a> large amounts of disk space using Disk Cleanup or Storage Sense.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/compress-blue-arrows-windows-update.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/office-shortcuts-compressed.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWindows\\logs\\CBS<\/code> and Windows\\Panther<\/code> folders are compressed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/windows-compress-blue-arrow.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRemove the Two Blue Arrow Icon Overlay<\/h2>\n
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1) Remove blue arrows by disabling compression for the file or folder<\/h3>\n
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\n<\/strong>![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/what-is-two-blue-arrows-icon-overlay.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/li>\n
\n2) Remove the double blue arrow icon overlay without disabling compression<\/h3>\n
#179<\/code>, similar to the\u00a0shortcut (.lnk) files overlay<\/a>\u00a0registry edit.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n
blank.ico<\/b><\/code> to a folder — e.g., C:\\Windows\\blank.ico<\/b><\/code><\/li>\nregedit.exe<\/code> and press Enter<\/li>\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
Shell Icons<\/code><\/b>(if the key doesn’t already exist)<\/li>\nShell Icons<\/b><\/code> key, create a new String value (REG_SZ) named 179<\/b><\/li>\n179<\/b><\/code> and set its data as C:\\Windows\\blank.ico
\n<\/b><\/code>![](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/w10-compression-overlay-1.png\")
<\/p>\nNote:<\/strong> At this step, don’t use the shell32.dll,50<\/code> blank icon for hiding the blue double arrow overlay. Doing so would cause your desktop shortcuts to be covered with black boxes. See Desktop Icons Covered with Black Squares or Generic White Overlay in Windows<\/a>. Use the blank.ico<\/code> file instead.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
\n![](\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/w10-compression-overlay-3.png\")
<\/p>\nDownloads<\/h4>\n
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Related articles<\/h3>\n