Change the Icon of Any Shortcut

Submitted by HelpMeRick.com on December 31, 2005 - 1:07am.

Last week's tip taught you how to create an automatic shut down icon for Windows XP. If you tried creating it, you were presented with a very blasé looking icon. One undisputable feature of Windows, from 3.0 through XP, is the ability to customize the interface to your own liking. 

This week I will teach you how to change shortcut icons to one that fits your personality or better describes the function of the shortcut.

Remember, shortcuts are the little icons on your desktop that 'point' to another program, file, or folder. You can identify a shortcut by the little arrow in the lower left corner of the icon. To change that icon:

  1. RIGHT click on the icon
  2. Click on Properties
  3. Click on the Change Icon button
  4. By default you are presented with the Windows' default icon choices
  5. Scroll through the choices and double-click on the icon of your choice
  6. Click on Apply and then OK

If you aren't thrilled with the choices of icons, you can download other libraries of icons from the following sites:

Windows Icons

Fancy Icons

If this helped, consider buying me a beer or an Americano!