Help in removing shortcut icons in Windows 7

[Shaan12]

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Okay now this is pretty simple question of mine but with a little bit of twist. I have recently installed Windows 7 on my new laptop which was pre-installed with Windows Vista.
Everything is working fine on this system, even after installing Windows 7. I have this small doubt.
How can I remove the shortcut icons from the desktop.?
Remove as in completely remove it.
Any suggestions please.

[ThoMas321]

Well its pretty easy. As you normally do in Windows XP or Windows Vista. You have to just select those icons and press the "Delete" key on the keyboard.
I don't think this was too hard. And if you don't at all want any icon on the desktop then, when you install new programs or application on your computer then at that time after completing the installation you get an option of whether you want to add the icons on the desktop. At that time select NO.
I hope this is what exactly you are looking for.

[Shaan12]

No I guess you didn't get my question right.
I don't at all want any Shortcuts to be placed on my desktop irrespective of installing any new software or application.
I have heard from my friends that it is possible by making some changes in the registry, now I am not sure about this that's why I am looking for answers over here.
So any one has any clue of how to do it from registry.

[Sam.D]

Well as its mentioned above that you want to completely remove all the icons then there are software's available like Shortcut Overlay Remover, which are free and can be used to remove and not allow any shortcut icons to get created in near future. Now the software mentioned above is used for Windows Vista and runs fine on Windows 7 32 bit, but no idea of Windows 7 64 bit, I haven't tested it yet. So can't comment on it.

[ZeDaX]

Okay here is the changes which you can make in the registry (I don't support it though) and get rid of shortcuts.
Open registry and in the registry go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT then lnkfile and delete this key : IsShortcut.
close the registry and reboot your system.