All saved file now have padlock icon

W10 21H1

Hi ... about 4 weeks ago all new files I save had a padlock in top right corner, which I understand is linked to encryption.

I have not knowingly requested to turn 'On' encryption.
I tried Googling and was told to turn off padlock overlay ... all new files now have a 'document' icon in top right corner.

If I do a 'Right-click on the file' and select 'file ownership > personal'
The top-right icon disappears, and also the 'file ownership' option is no longer in the 'right-click' menu.
All older saved pictures are fine .... only new saves.

If I look in the finder window .... eg in MS Word File>insert picture ..... they still show as with padlock icon

Pic showing issues attached.

If I send a file to anyone I now get messages about am I sure I want to share without encryption.

I don't want to have to do 'file ownerhip' this to every new file.

How do I turn off this encryption? - help is appreciated.

I did find what appeared to be description/solution on this link, but its for W7 and settings must have changed as don't have screen shots they show, Change the permissions and take ownership of your files and folders | Free Easy-to-Follow Windows Tutorials

I just followed that article set 'do not allow NTFS encryption' to enable (which is the method to disable it.
Made no difference to icon .... it is still displayed.
However, if I then try the 'right-click > file ownership > personal' it no longer works and throws up this error:

I understand the key comment from the links that 'File ownership option only appears if EFS enabled'

I can remove the icon on a per file basis .... but want to prevent it from being applied in the first place.

Key point seems to be (at least testing) the padlock ONLY appears if I save it to desktop, does not happen if I save files elsewhere. Either on C:\ or other drives.

Would suggest EFS encryption is only set for Desktop ? do you know how I can turn this off at 'desktop' level

That worked ..... loads of messages in shell as it performed ..... and new files save without padlock.
Thanks for the help - really helpful.

I have 2 follow up questions if you can answer ...

#1 why would this have started encryption? ..... only change I can think I made was adding a Google Drive folder to PC.

#2 I had made a change to remove padlock overlay ..... it had removed padlock but put a file icon in the top corner (as per pic) is there an easy way to reapply the overlay, just so padlock does appear when it's supposed to.

The overlay was removed as one of the suggestions on another forum to fix the problem .... amongst loads of NTFS changes .... I have undone NTFS chnages, but can't find how to reapply overlay