Desktop shortcuts can be divided into two groups, the appearance of which changes in different ways. One of them includes icons of application programs and documents, the other includes shortcuts to system components ("My Computer", "Network Neighborhood", "Recycle Bin").
Instructions
Step 1
To replace the usual shortcut, right-click it and select the very bottom line - "Properties" from the context menu. In this way, you will open a window with information and control elements for the properties of this icon.
Step 2
Go to the "Shortcut" tab and click the "Change Icon" button - it opens another additional window.
Step 3
Select a new type of shortcut from the available list or click the Browse button to search for other sources of icons. Such a source can be library files (with the dll extension) or executable files (with the exe extension). But more often, icons contained in files with the ico extension are used for replacement.
Step 4
Click the "OK" button in the icon change dialog after you decide on its new appearance.
Step 5
To replace icons that do not have a "Shortcut" tab in their properties window ("My Computer", "Network Neighborhood", "Trash"), open the "Desktop Elements" panel. If you are using the Windows XP operating system, then click the free Right-click Desktop Space, choose Properties from the menu, click the Desktop tab, and then click the Customize Desktop button.
Step 6
If you have Windows 7 installed, then the actions of the previous step can be replaced with the following: first open the menu on the "Start" button and launch the Control Panel. Then, in the search box, enter the word "personalization", and in the search results, click the "Personalization" link. In the left pane of the window, select the line "Change desktop icons".
Step 7
If you are using Windows Vista, you also need to launch the control panel from the main menu, on the page "Appearance and personal settings" of which there is the same link "Personalization". It opens the same page with the line "Change Desktop Icons" in the left pane, which you need to click.
Step 8
This step is the same in any OS: select the one in need of replacement from the list of desktop icons and click the "Change" button. The same as for the rest of the shortcuts, the image search window will open.
Step 9
Find the picture you need to replace the icon and click the "OK" button.
Step 10
There is an alternative way to replace all the shortcuts on the desktop - changing the theme. Each theme has its own set of icons, and the variety of themes that can be found on the Internet is enormous. Unfortunately, not all OS versions allow changing themes - for example, Windows 7 Starter does not have this option.
