Here are some instructions on how to change the icons on your computer!

Installing Icons on Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0:

One caveat: 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 the Windows Explorer. For example, files ending in .TXT are usually associated with WordPad and so double-clicking or opening 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 anywhere. Also, any icon that is stored in a program file will override any association icon if that file is .EXE, .DLL, or .SCR.

To view your new icons, open up the Windows Explorer and open your icon directory. If you have a bunch 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.

If you have a .DLL collection of icons, you will need to take the same steps you would take to change the icon of any shortcut. Perform the following:

1.In the Windows Explorer, highlight any file and create a shortcut (either by selecting Create Shortcut from the File menu or by right-clicking on the file and selecting Create Shortcut). Don't worry about this new shortcut as you can delete it later. If you want to change the icon for an existing shortcut, just select the existing shortcut.

2.Highlight the new (or existing) shortcut and select Properties from the File menu (or right-click on the shortcut and select Properties).

3.Click on the Shortcut tab at the top of the dialog.

4.Click on the Change Icon... button. You will be presented with a list of default icons for the file associated with this shortcut. These icons can come from the file itself (if it is a .EXE, .DLL, or .SCR file) or from Windows itself. However, these are not the icons you want (or you wouldn't be changing them!).

5.Click the Browse... button and go find the .ICO, .DLL or .ICL that contains the icon(s) you want to look at and select it then click OK in the Browse dialog. In the drop-down file type box in the explorer dialog, you can select "Icon Files", "Programs", "Library", "Icons", and "All Files". Selecting "Icon Files" (the default setting) will show all files ending in .EXE, .DLL, and .ICO. These are "Programs", "Libraries", and "Icons", respectively. To access .ICL Icon Libraries, you will need to select "All Files" and look for files ending in .ICL. You can manually type in a wildcard match in the file name window. For example, to see only .ICL files, type "*.ICL" (without the quotes) in the file name window and press return. Now you can browse whereever you want and see only .ICL files.

6.In the icon display, you will now see a row of all the icons in that .ICO, .DLL, or .ICL (actually, only one icon for .ICO files). Scroll the list to see them all.

7.Select an icon and click OK to change that shortcut's icon. Otherwise click Cancel to leave the original icon alone.

8.If you created this shortcut and you want to get rid of it, highlight it and select Delete from the File menu or right-click and select Delete.

Again, these same 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 the Windows Explorer and you want that shortcut on the desktop, just drag it from the Windows Explorer to the desktop. The shortcut will be copied onto the desktop. You can then safely delete (if you want) the original shortcut you created.

If you want to change the icon for a File Association, perform the following:

1.From the Windows Explorer, select Options... from the View menu.

2.Select the File Types tab to view all File Associations with their selected icons.

3.In the list, find the file association you want to change and highlight it. If you are unsure about which file extension is being referenced by the Association, just click once on the Association and view the details below the list.

4.Once you have found the right Association, click on the Edit... button.

5.Click on the Change Icon... button in the Edit File Type dialog. At this stage, if you are changing the icon for the first time, write down the path that appears in the File Name box. You will need this path to restore the original icon if you want to undo what you are about to do. Whatever you do, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT click the Set Defaults button in the Edit File Type dialog: that will really screw things up and you will have to reinstall the program that set up that File Association in the first place.

6.Click the Browse... button and go find the .ICO, .DLL, or .ICL file that contains the icons you want to use, select it and click OK in the Browse dialog.

7.In the Current Icon display, you will now see a row of all the icon(s) to choose from. Scroll the list to see them all.

8.Select an icon and click OK to change the File Association's icon. Otherwise click Cancel to leave the original icon alone.

9.Click OK in the File Type dialog to close it. The Association's icon is now changed.

Warning: once you have changed the icon for a shortcut or File Association, you must leave the icon file you selected from where it is! Windows will always go there for the icon until you change it. So, if you move, rename, or delete the icon file, Windows will no longer be able to use the icons from that file.

Something else to think about is that icons are also stored in .EXE programs, especially those that run under Windows. Often, these programs have more than one icon to choose from. Create a shortcut to your program (or edit an existing shortcut) and you will be presented with a list of all the icons in that program's file. You can check the File Name box in the Change Icon... dialog to make sure it is pointing to the program file. Just select a new icon from the list and presto! you have a new look for your shortcut!

You have now successfully viewed and changed icons under Windows 95/NT! Have fun customizing your desktop!

Installing Icons on Windows 3.1/3.11, Windows NT 3.51:

Viewing and changing icons in Windows 3.1/3.11 is relatively straightforward as they are basically the same process. Whenever you install a program, 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 3.1/3.11. To change an icon for a program item, perform the following:

1.Highlight the program item you want to change and select Properties from the File Menu.

2.Click on the Change Icon button.

3.In the File Name box, type in the path to the icon file or .DLL icon file you want to use. Click in the Current Icon list to make Windows load the icon(s).

4.You can select an icon from this list or enter another path name in the File Name Box to get a different icon file or .DLL icon collection.

5.Select an icon and press OK.

6.Select OK again to close the Program Item Properties dialog. The icon has now been changed (assuming you selected a new icon).

Because you have to type in the path to the icon file, you may want to put all of your new icons into a directory in your root directory, for example, C:\ICONS.

Something else to think about is that icons are also stored in .EXE programs, especially those that run under Windows. Often, these programs have more than one icon to choose from. When you choose to change an icon in a program item for an actual program, you will be presented with a list of all the icons in that program's file. You can check the File Name box in the Change Icon... dialog to make sure it is pointing to the program file. Just select a new icon from the list and presto! you have a new look for your program item!