How to change your desktop icons

So you want to change those blah Windows icons on your desktop but you don't know how? I know I have been wanting to post this for a while, but kept forgetting. ;)

The first thing you need to do is to go shopping for some icons, obviously! When I say shopping, I don't necessarily mean that you should pay for icons; there are plenty of sites out there with high quality icons, free for the taking. Check a few of these sites out:

Pixelgirl
David Lanham
Fast Icon
Flameia Design
HYBRIDWORKS
Martin Laksman™
The Iconfactory
Websiteicons
Icon Archive
Yellow Icon

Be sure to download sets that have a Windows icon next to it or actually say Windows in the download because Mac icons aren't going to work on your PC. After you have found a few sets that you like, unzip one using what ever zip program you usually use such as Winzip or Stuffit. Place the icon folder on your desktop so that it's easy to find.

1. Next, right click on your desktop and scroll down to the bottom of the menu and click on Properties. A widow named Display Properties will open, 2. then click on the Desktop tab, then click on the Customize Desktop button.

Another window named Desktop Items will open.
3. Select an icon in that window, let's start with the My Computer icon. Click on it to highlight it, then click the Change Icon button and yet another little window will open.

4. Click the Browse button (as pictured above) and find your icon folder on your desktop, then select an icon from the folder that you would like to change the icon to.

5. Highlight your icon then click Open. I'm going to go with strawberry.ico .

6. You will be taken back to the Change Icon window, just click the OK button.


This will then take you back to the Desktop Items window.
7. As you can see in the picture above, the icon is changed for My Computer. If you are finished and do not want to change any other icons, click OK and that window will close.

8. To finalize the icon change click Apply in the remaining open window, Display Properties, then click OK to close the window and you should see your icon change immediately on your desktop. Here is my new My Computer icon :D

I'm not finished changing all of my icons so I'm going to skip steps 7 and 8. I'm going to repeat steps 3 through 6 until all of my icons are changed.

I have a folder marked NEW DL'S for all of my new downloads to go, instead of them junking up my desktop. I think I want to change that folder icon too, to match my new Fruity heart theme! If you would like to change a folder icon, hang in there with me for a few more steps. ;) Come on... just a few more steps, I promise! You want your desktop to look cute, right?

OK, right click on the folder you want to change, then scroll down and click on Properties. You should see a Customize tab, click on that.

Click Change Icon at the bottom. Now you are going to browse for your icon folder just as you did before. Click the icon you want, then click Open. That will take you to a Change Icon window, click OK and that window will close. Click Apply in the folder Properties window to finalize, then OK and that's it!

Oooooh, purty! For you fellas, I'm sure your desktop looks totally MANLY now, not cute or purty. ;)

I hope you have enjoyed this little tutorial on how to change desktop icons. If you don't get it at first, keep trying. It's pretty easy after a few tries.

Later taters!
~mert