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To use these instructions, you will need to know the following:
Icons are those little images that are associated with files and folders. They help give a visual representation of what that file is for. You see these icons on the desktop or whenever you open a file folder using Windows Explorer. Icons are normally stored in one of two places: inside the file itself (if it is an executable program or .dll file) or, more importantly for our purposes, in an icon folder, which is just a folder where we choose to put icon files. What's really neat about these icons on Windows is you change them to anything you want!
Before Windows 98, icons had to have only 16 colors. Windows 95 could be modified to show icons with 256 colors but it normally could deal with only 16 color icons. With the introduction of Windows 98, icons could take on more colors, 256 colors being the normal. You can do a lot with 256 colors.
There are two things you need to do to display icons with 256 colors on Windows:
For Windows XP, icons are always displayed using all possible colors and the desktop is already set for Medium Color (16-bit) or High Color (32-bit) mode so you should have no problems with icon colors. However, to change the icons for system icons, you still need to access the Effects dialog box. Do this by double-clicking on the Display icon in Control Panel or right-clicking on the desktop background (away from any icon) and select Properties from the context menu. Click on the Appearance Tab then click on "Effects...".
For Windows 98/ME and Windows 2000, there is an option built into the Display settings of Control Panel which allows icons to be displayed at their best. To set this option, double-click the Display icon in Control panel or right-click on the desktop (away from any icon) and select Properties from the context menu. Then select the Effects tab to show the Effects dialog box. In the list of check boxes is an option labeled "Show Icons using all possible colors". Make sure this box is checked then click OK.
For Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, you need to run a utility from Eclispit (formerly known as Impact Software, and who also make an icon editor called Microangelo) called Icon Color Level. This will allow Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 to make use of icons with more than 16 colors. Icon Color Level is a program Impact Software released for free about the time Windows 95 was released. We have a copy of it here on Otaku World in the Utilities Area of the Toy Chest. Just set your screen color resolution to High or True Color, run Icon Color Level and enjoy the view!
On Otaku World, icon collections come in three forms: individual icon files, .DLL files, and .ICL files. These are archived as .ZIP files to make them smaller and take less time to download. After you download the archive, you will need to extract its contents using an archive program that handles ZIP files. When you are done unzipping the archive, you will have one or more files ending in either .ICO, .DLL, or .ICL.
A .ICO file contains a single icon.
A .DLL can contain more than one icon and therefore are easier to handle. Unfortunately, not all icon collections Otaku World gets are bundled as .DLL files.
.ICL is a format for icon collections introduced with Windows 95 and supported on all later versions of Windows. This file is called an Icon Library file. It not only holds the icon images but also allows the icons in the library to be named. However, you need a program that understands the Icon Library format to view those names ( Eclipsit's Microangelo has this support). The individual steps for installing icons under Windows detailed later explain how to handle .ICL Icon Libraries (they are treated the same way as .DLL files).
After unzipping the icons from the ZIP archive file, copy the icons to your favorite icon folder. Although Windows maintains its own icon folder, Windows can use icons stored anywhere on your hard drive. Besides, it is better for you in case you want to update or delete icons: you will know where they are and be confident in the knowledge that all the icons in your favorite icon folder are not part of Windows and will not be affected if you upgrade or patch Windows.
Making use of icons is a pretty straightforward for Windows starting with Windows 95. Older versions of Windows such as Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x require slightly different steps.
Windows 95/Windows NT 4.0: you can change icons on shortcuts and file associations only! You cannot change icons on actual programs. Shortcuts allow you to put an icon on your desktop and connect it with a program, allowing you to run that program directly from the desktop. You can also put shortcuts in other folders to the same program without having to copy the program to many different locations. Shortcuts are usually designated by a little arrow in the lower left corner of the icon (Windows adds this arrow).
File associations are used by Windows to determine what to do if you double-click or open a file in Windows Explorer or from the desktop. For example, files ending in .TXT are usually associated with WordPad or Notepad and so double-clicking a .TXT file will cause WordPad to run and load that text file automatically. If you change the icon of a file association, you change it for all files of that type everywhere. However, since file associations are usually for connecting file types to programs, Windows will use any icons from the associated program instead of any icon you may select from somewhere else.
Windows 98/ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP not only support changing icons for shortcuts and file associations but they allow changing the system icons as well. This is accomplished from the Effects dialog box available in the Display settings of Control Panel.
To view your new icons, run Windows Explorer and open your icon folder. If you have a collection of individual icon files (ending in .ICO), you will see the icons displayed for you in the Explorer's window. If necessary, select Large Icons from the View menu to properly see them.
To view the icons stored in a .DLL collection of icons, you will need to take the same steps you would normally take to actually change the icon of any shortcut.
Here are the steps to change an icon on a shortcut:
Again, these steps are used to change the icons of an existing shortcut (or create a new shortcut you want to keep). Note: if you create a shortcut in Windows Explorer and you want that shortcut on the desktop, just drag it from Windows Explorer to the desktop. The shortcut will be copied onto the desktop. Then, if desired, you can safely delete the original shortcut you created.
Note: Windows should normally be allowed to handle all icons in file associations. Making a mistake changing icons for file associations can lead to problems which may not be easily corrected. Proceed with these steps at your own risk.
If you want to change the icon for a file association, do the following:
Avoid clicking Set Defaults, whatever you do! This can break the file association and you will have to reinstall the program that set up that file association in the first place.
To restore a file association's original icon, do the following:
Avoid clicking Set Defaults, whatever you do! This can break the file association and you will have to reinstall the program that set up that file association in the first place.
Important: once you have changed the icon for a shortcut or file association, you must leave the icon file you used where it is! Windows will always go to that file for the icon. If you move, rename, or delete the icon file, Windows will no longer be able to use the icons from that file and will show a generic icon instead.
Note: icons are stored in program files as well and it is possible to use icons from another program in your shortcuts or file associations. Often, these program files have more than one icon to choose from. So if the icon to a program is not to your liking, it is possible the program contains other icons to choose from. Use the steps mentioned earlier for changing an icon on a shortcut except there is no need to browse for the program file as all icons that are available in the program will be shown.
You have now successfully viewed and changed icons under Windows! Have fun customizing your desktop!
Viewing and changing icons in Windows 3.x is relatively straightforward as they are basically the same process. Whenever a program is installed, it will usually create a file group with program items representing all the files for that program. The icon for any program item can be changed under Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x. To change an icon for a program item, do the following:
Because you have to type in the path to the icon file, you may want to put all of your new icons into a folder in your root folder, for example, C:\ICONS.
Note: icons are stored in program files as well and it is possible to use icons from another program in your shortcuts or file associations. Often, these program files have more than one icon to choose from. So if the icon to a program is not to your liking, it is possible the program contains other icons to choose from. Use the steps mentioned earlier for changing an icon on a shortcut except there is no need to browse for the program file as all icons that are available in the program will be shown.
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