Change Default Icons in Windows XP

1) Start Windows in your normal fashion.

2) Click the Start menu and select the "My Computer" option. Alternately, you can double-click the "My Computer" desktop icon if you've enabled it to appear on the desktop.

3) Double-click on your hard drive to open the directory.

4) Find the program for which you wish to change the associated icon. You'll need to know its location on the hard drive. If you don't know where it is, you can use the Start menu "Search" feature to locate it.

5) Right-click on the file, and click the "Properties" menu option. This will open the Properties menu for the file.

6) Click the "Change Icon" button. If there is no "Change Icon" button, you will need to create a desktop icon instead. To do so, cancel out of the Properties menu and right-click the file again. This time, select "Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut)."

7) Click on one of the icons that appears in the list. If the icon you want isn't on the list, click the "Browse" button to search for more icons.

8) Click "OK" once you've chosen the icon you'd like to use.

9) Click "Apply" to confirm your changes, and then click "OK" to close the window.

10) Wait a moment to see the icon change. There are times, like when a lot of system resources are in use, when icon changes can take a moment to appear.

Recommendation from experts: "Better to use icon managers or icon packs instead of manual editing"