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[ICONS]

Changing Icons

There is alot of different ways to change icons, depending on wich icons you want to change. I have divided it into five groups:

1. Shortcuts icons - On desktop and in subfolders of startmenu.
2. System icons - Startmenu, my computer, drives and more.
3. File icons - The icons on files asociated with programs.
4. Startbutton icon - The ugly win-logo on the startbutton.
5. Application icons - E.g. shown top-left of a window.

(Note: Since I have the swedish version of Win95 I'm not 100% sure of some names in english. Please notify me if you see an error)

Shortcuts Icons

Ok, this is a easy one. I would guess all of you know how to change these but i describe it anyway.
A shortcut is a link to a file in Windows. It is usually found on the desktop and in the start menu. Since these shortcuts are not the real files, it's very easy to change icons on them.

On desktop:
1. Right click on the shortcut and choose 'properties'. Then choose 'Shortcut' and the 'change icon...' button. Select an icon and press OK. It will change in a couple of seconds.

In start menu:
1. Right click on the startbutton and choose 'open' or 'explore'.
2. Locate the file(s) and follow the same procedure as on the desktop.

System Icons

This one is quite easy too, since there is alot of different programs wich let you choose and replace the system icons. e.g. Microangelo, E-Icons 98 and Icon Customizer. To get these check in the programs section or check any big software site on the net.

Procedure:

1. Run the icon-changer-program.
2. Select the icon you want to change and (depends on wich program) browse for the new icon. Press 'OK' or 'Apply' or whatever the program use.
3. If it doesn't change, try to 'Rebuild Icon Cache'. This is a feature of most icon-progams that flush Windows icon-cache, meaning that Windows have to reload all icons into cache. This should make your new icon(s) show up.

File Icons

This one is harder. Especially since i don't know the english names!

To change the default icon for a type of file:

1. In a explorer window, select View / Preferences (?). Then choose file-types (!?) and you'll see all type of files your Windows recognizes. (Look)
2. Select the type of file you want to have a new icon, and press 'edit'.
3. Select 'Change icon...' and select the new one. Then press 'OK' until all dialog boxes are gone. The new icon(s) should appear in a couple of seconds.

Startbutton Icon

There is a easy way and a hard way.

Easy:

1. Download TClock from this site.
2. Run it.
3. Right click on the 'new' clock and select 'TClock Properties'.
4. Choose the 'Taskbar' tab and check the 'Customize Startbutton'.
5. Press the '...' button and locate your new icon (You can use a bitmap also!).
5. Press 'OK' and your new icon (or bitmap) should be on the start button.

Hard:

Use Microangelo and open up \win-dir\system\USER.EXE in librarian and replace one of the 'win-logo' icons with your own 16 color icon. The right one to change is probably the 16x16 one. But it may depend on wich resolution and/or font size you use.
This way really sucks since TClock does it all better and you can use 256+ colors and even bitmaps.

Application Icons

This one is alot like the 'hard' way of changing startbutton icon. This changes the icons located IN the programs.

WARNING: BE CAREFUL, BACKUP YOUR FILE(S)!

You can't change the icon of a running program so shut it down or copy the programs .exe file to another directory. Open the .exe in Microangelo Librarian and then open the icon you want to change in Microangelo Studio and replace it with something nicer.
When you have made a new icon, choose 'update librarian' in the 'File Menu'. Save the .exe and try running it. If it's a windows file, best thing is to 'quit to dos' and copy the 'new' file over the older one. Don't forget to make a backup first

Note: Microangelo doesn't seem to handle other formats than those already in the .exe. Means no cool 256 color icon in explorer.exe. If you find a way to do it, please, drop me a mail.

Take a look at my first screenshot. It show alot of 'hacked' .exe files.

NOTE: You can change icons in everything that contains icons, like EXE's and DLL's. You can browse with the Microangelo 98 Explorer and see if and how many icons there is in a file.

[DragonMaster]