By Erik Mjelde (Contributed)

An icon in Windows 7 can be viewed from the desktop, taskbar, start menu, and file system. You may not like the default icons a program comes with or you may want to enhance the look of your user profile. Either way, replacing your default program icons with a custom icon is fun and easy.

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Before we go any further, you should know a thing about Windows. Windows likes to use icon files. This means the icon file name will end in “.ico”. You cannot use any picture format you desire. A website I would recommend is “vistaicons.com”. They have a great selection of free icon packs that all come in .ico format. When you download the icons to your computer, be sure to save them in a secure location. Place the icons somewhere they will not be moved or deleted.

Now to the fun part, applying a custom icon. Find an icon that you want to change and right click it, then go to properties. Keep in mind that you may need to travel to the icon inside the start menu. If the icon you are trying to change is on the taskbar, you may not see the properties option when you right click. The Program properties box will pop up. Click the “Change icon” button. You can change your icon to one of the defaults that comes with Windows or, use one you have downloaded.

To use the Icons you have downloaded, you must traverse to that file location. If the files are “.ico” files, Windows will show you a preview. Find the icon that you want to use and click “Ok” twice. You now have changed to a custom icon.

Windows 7 shows icons everywhere around its user interface. To enhance the look of your user profile, you may want to change the style of your icons. Doing this in Windows 7 is actually not very hard. There are many websites dedicated to different styles of icons. Find some that you like and try them out.

Warmest Regards,

Erik Mjelde

http://www.HonestGuyComputerRepair.com, Los Angeles, California, PC & Laptop Technical Support Team.

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