Introduction: HOW TO CREATE a NEW PHOTO FOR a DESKTOP ICON

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About: I am a 82-year-old self-proclaimed Chef who has spent most of his life in the hotel/resort tourism industry. I have traveled up and down the east coast of the United States from New York to Key West, and from …

If you are like me, you probably have a large number of desktop icons on your computer's desktop, and you use them to quickly access various files and programs. However, many of the photos that accompany the files that I have chosen to populate my desktop are unattractive and irrelevant. Well, I have just discovered how to customize those icons and replace them with photographs from my own files! For those of you who feel like I do about those ugly Icons, this is how you can change them I am now using Windows 10, but this method should work on earlier versions, too)>.

Step 1: START BY OPENING YOUR "PAINT" FILE

  1. Open Paint
  2. Click on "File," and open a photo that you would like to use to replace one of your desktop icon photos
  3. Once the photo you have selected opens, click on "File" again, then on "Save As" "BMP Picture."
  4. Give the file a new name and "SAVE" (I renamed the photo "FRANGIPANI"
  5. The file will then reappear with the file name "FRANGIPANI," and with the BMP file type listed below the file name. Place your curser at the end of file name and add the extension .ico to the File name as pictured here.

Step 2: NOW GO TO BACK TO YOUR DESKTOP

Right Click on the Desktop Icon Photo that you want to change and select "Properties" at the bottom of the list.

Next, select "Change Icon," then "Browse" for the photo that you renamed in the previous step

Once you have located the new photo that you want use, click "Open" followed by "OK," followed by "Change Icon."

When the next window opens, select "APPLY," then "OK" again.

Exit Paint and check your desktop; the new Icon photo should have replaced the old one.

GOOD LUCK . ..I hope this as well for you as it did for me!