Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Change Icon for My Computer, Recycle Bin, Others

Do you have icons for My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, and/or Internet Explorer on your Windows XP desktop? And if so, would you like to change how the icons look?

1. Right-click an empty area of the desktop and choose "Properties".

2. When the "Display Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click the "Desktop" tab.

3. Click the "Customize Desktop" button.

4. A "Desktop Items" dialog box will appear. Make sure the "General" tab is selected.

5. Click on an icon to change:

* My Computer
* My Documents
* My Network Places
* Recycle Bin (full)
* Recycle Bin (empty)

6. Click "Change Icon".

7. If you like one of the available icons, choose one and click "OK". Or, you can browse your system for more icons including those you may have downloaded from the Internet. You can also use the icons embedded in executable files, DLLs, etc.

For a bunch of icons, enter this next to the "Browse" button and press ENTER:

%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll

8. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

Note 1: If you want to create your own icons, here is a list of editors for informational purposes only.

Easy Icon Maker - http://www.icon-maker.com/

IconCool - http://www.iconcool.com/

Microangelo - http://www.microangelo.us/

Note 2: If you don't like your changes, you can revert a Windows XP desktop icon back to its default.