I can be a little impatient and I will often open my web browser and need to wait for the homepage to load before then changing to a diffrent site I therefore decided to create some shortcuts on my desktop to my most commonly used sites.

Note: This Instructable is for windows xp. I am sure the same principles can be applied to other windows operating systems however the steps my differ.

Step 1: Create the Shortcut

To create the shortcut right-click on your desktop and under "New" select "Shortcut" , the shortcut wizard will appear.

In the box "Type the location of the item" type the web address for example "www.instructables.com" . Then click next.

Then a box named "Type a name for this shortcut" will appear this is the name that will appear underneath the icon. I used Instructables as an example.

Step 2: Create the Icons

Before you continue you need to find an image to be used as an icon. Look on the internet for an appropriate icon image and make sure the image has no background, the image can be saved into "My Pictures" temporarily.

The image can be converted to an icon file using www.converticon.com

It's a fairly simple tool to use so i won't go into much detail but when browsing for an image in converticon you may need to change the drop down box "Files of type" to "Image" and make sure on the export options menu uncheck original size and check 32 x 32.

I recommend saving the icon file in a folder labled "Icons" in your documents folder this helps organise your icons if you create multiple shortcuts.

Step 3: Changing the Icon

Right-click on the shortcut and select "Properties" then in the properties menu select "Change Icon".

There will be an option to browse for icon files by selecting the "Browse" button then find the icon file you created earlier and press "OK" on both the icon menu and properties menu.