*sigh*

housed, er, borrowed from hush66

Let us start off by changing those icons that are easiest to deal with: those on the desktop itself.

Changing Desktop Icons

First, right click on the icon with your mouse. A menu of options will appear. Select the "Properties" option, which is usually at the bottom of the menu.

Depending on the icon, you should be at the "Summary" or a "Shortcut" menu tab. If not, select it. Then select "Change Icon...".

Browse through your directories for the icon that you want to replace the current one. (Note: Icons use the .ico file extension in Windows. They can also be found inside *.icl (icon library files) and *.exe files). It is best that you create a directory solely for the icons you've downloaded or created, since it makes for easier browsing. Once you've found the right icon, select "Open", then "OK" in the next dialog and "Apply" the new icon!

There are, however, some icons on the desktop that you may not be able to change using the above method. Such icons include the My Computer, Recycle Bin, My Network Places, and My Documents icons. To customize these icons, right click on an empty area of the desktop, and select "Properties". You'll find yourself in the Display Properties menu. Select the Desktop tab, and at the bottom, choose "Customize Desktop". The Desktop Items dialog will appear.

Here, you can select which of the above mentioned icons you want to appear on the desktop. But more importantly, you can customize those icons. Select the icon you want to change, then click the "Change Icon..." tab and browse for the desired icon. Once you've found it, just click OK through the dialogs. 

Changing Folder Icons

The method of right-clicking on an icon, selecting "Properties" and then "Change Icon..." can also be used to change the icons that accompany most of your folders. You can do this in Windows Explorer. Try it out!

Changing Start Menu Icons

The same method can again be used on some of the icons contained within your Start Menu, namely those in the Programs tab. Perhaps you think that the Calculator icon is hideous and you want it changed. No problem! Right-click on it, select Properties, "Change Icon...", find the right icon, click "OK" through the dialogs and there you go!

However there are some icons on the Start Menu itself which may not be customized using the above method, like those found on the right-hand side of the Start Menu (My Computer, My Documents, Control Panel, Help and Support, Search, Run, etc.). In such situations, you can rely on third-party (usually shareware) icon customization programs like Axialis Iconworkshop or Iconpackager. 



Another way you can change those icons is by using the free program Resource Hacker to "hack" your shell32.dll file. This shell32.dll file contains most of the default Windows icons. Look at the following tutorial on how to use Resource Hacker to hack your shell32.dll file.

Before you go and start hacking the file, it is EXTREMELY important that you make a backup of the file. Go to your Windows/System32/ directory and you see the file there. Make a copy of it (Right-click, "Copy") and then store it somewhere else, wherever you like.

"Hacking" that shell32

Now, start Resource Hacker, and open the shell32.dll file by selecting "File", then "Open" (or Ctrl + O). 

Now, select "Action", and then "Replace Icon". A screen displaying the icon groups and a preview of the icon that accompanies the respective groups will appear (see attached image).

For instance, you can see that the 'Run' icon group is resource 25, while the 'Help' resource is 24. If you need more help on identifying the various icons, here's a visual aid (right-click on link and Save Target As). Find the icon you want to replace on the right side of the window. Click on the "Open File With New icon ..." tab. Browse through your directories to look for the replacement icon and click "Open". You should see your new icon on the left side with the old icon on the right side. Select "Replace".

Once you're done with replacing the old icons with new ones, select "File" and then "Save As ...". Choose where you want to save this new customized shell32 file, for example on your desktop.

Replacing that hacked shell32

Once you're done with replacing the icons in the shell32.dll file, you would need to replace this new file with the old one. Two ways you could do that. 

First, the easy way: use the program Replacer.

Second, the manual way:
(1) Boot into Safe Mode (press F8 while booting).
(2) Go to Windows\system32 folder and rename shell32.dll file to shell32.bak
(3) Copy the hacked shell32.dll to this folder.
(4) If you have a Windows\ServicePackFiles folder : 
- Go to Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder and rename shell32.dll to shell32.bak.
- Copy the hacked shell32.dll to this folder.
(5) If you do not have a Windows\ServicePackFiles folder : 
- Go to Windows\system32\dllcache folder and rename shell32.dll to shell32.bak.
- Copy the hacked shell32.dll to this folder.
(6) Reboot.

(Note: The folder Windows\system32\dllcache is a hidden folder. You need to go to Tools --> Folder Options --> View and make sure that the option "Show Hidden Files and Folders" is checked, while the "Hide protected operating system files folder" is unchecked. Only then will you see your dllcache folder. Alternatively you can simply type in C:\Windows\system32\dllcache in the Address bar of Explorer.)

Now, no matter which of the above methods you use, if the icons do not change after you've reboot, you need to rebuild the icon cache using Microsoft's TweakUI. Or, If you have IconPackager, the settings button in the icon tab of any random file.