Tired of seeing half a dozen identical icons on your desktop? Change the appearance of your shortcut icons!
First of all, this trick only works on shortcut icons. So leave all your documents in their original folders, and just put their shortcuts on your desktop or taskbar.
To Create Shortcuts
Right click on the program you want to make a shortcut for, and click on “Create Shortcut.”
Change the Appearance of the Shortcuts
1. Right-click on the shortcut you want to change, and click on “Properties.”
2. Click on “Change Icon.”
3. Choose the icon that you like, then click “OK.”
3.a. If you can’t find an icon you like, click “Browse”, go to “system32” (C: WindowsSystem32shel32.dll) for more options:
3.b. Choose the icon that you like, then click “OK.”
3.c. Click “Apply” then click “OK” again.
And voila! Your icon’s appearance is changed!
To Move Shortcuts from Your Desktop to Your Taskbar
Just click on the icon from your desktop and drag it down to your taskbar until you see the black vertical line appear. When you let go, a copy of the shortcut you dragged will appear on your taskbar.
You can also drag the icon from your desktop to your taskbar using your right mouse button and click on “Move Here” so that no copy of the icon will be left on your desktop (I prefer this way; it leaves my desktop less cluttered).
For more computer customization tips, you can check out How to Make Programs Start Automatically When You Turn on Your Computer.
3 Responses
Thanks for the information! I’m going to give this
a try. I never would have thought…I am going to
give it a try. A Great new way to map my way around
my computer:)
Oops, just returned to check out how to try the shortcuts and see my repetitive ‘I’m going to give it a try’. Sometimes I know not what I say
Again, thanks for your info.
Thank you, francie. You’re a really sweet lady.