Isn't It Iconic

I became bored of looking at the same old icons on my desktop, so I set off on a mission to change them. I went on an Internet hunt to search for the best icons available for free. The initial sites that came up on my search were less than impressive, and only offered those cheesy looking ones you see on an awful PowerPoint presentation. But bleh! I wasn’t going to settle for that.

There are multiple icon websites out there, but the top two that won my attention were Pixelgirl Presents (www.pixelgirlpresents) and Icon Factory (www.iconfactory.com). I applaud Pixelgirl Presents for the availability of its nearly 400 downloadable sets. They’re mostly family-friendly without being tacky. You can choose from foods, animals, robots, anime, retro or cultural iconography (i.e. Japanese good luck charms). Wouldn’t it be fun to change your icons to match the holidays throughout the year, or what mood you’re in? You can also change your desktop picture around with Pixelgirl’s nearly 1,000 desktops available.

Icon Factory’s website is a bit cluttered, but if you look in the right places, you can find just about anything from A-Z, using the convenient search window. It probably has more of a selection than Pixelgirl, you just have to dig a little. It gives you the option of purchasing IconBuilder if you don’t find what you’re looking for. You’ll need Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks to use it, as well as a creative streak. You can download it for $79. In addition, IconBuilder offers all sorts of tips, various tools and design services.

Okay, now you have all these cool icons to play with, but how do you change your folders around? It’s really quite simple:

For Mac:
-Highlight the folder you would like to change
-Simultaneously push the Apple (command key) and I keys for the properties
-Copy your selected icon (highlight, and push Apple C)
-Highlight the “old” folder icon inside the properties window and replace it with your new icon by pasting it over (Apple V)

For Windows XP:
-Right click on the folder you would like to change (for the properties window)
-Click on the Customize tab
-Click on Change Icon, select your icon picture

Now you’re all set to spice-up your computer’s desktop.