Windows ships with a limited amount of desktop icons and some users might prefer to create their own icons for a more personal experience. Simply Icon is a lightweight software program to create desktop icons. All the user needs to do is to drag and drop an image into the applications interface. The application will automatically created four different icons in the sizes 128×128, 64×64, 32×32 and 16×16.

The newly created icons will be stored in one file in the same directory as the original file that was dropped into the application. Best suitable images for a conversion into icons are images that have the same height and width.

Simply Icon can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It does require the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 which needs to be installed before the application can be executed.

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While that alone would not be really spectacular Fences comes with one of the easiest ways to hide all or specific fences. Hiding and unhiding the fences can be done by a simple double-click on the desktop. This means that you can work with a icon free desktop for most of the day. If you need any shortcuts you simply double-click the desktop, the fences containing the icons appear and you can launch them normally.

Fences does come with the possibility to exclude areas from being hidden by the double-click which is great if you need some shortcuts visible all the time.

The program offers the ability to group all icons on the computer system automatically after installation. The alternative would be to create empty fences and move the shortcuts in those fences manually.

A new fence can be easily created by right-clicking on the computer desktop and drawing a rectangle on the screen. New icons places on the computer desktop will not automatically be moved into fences. It is up to the user to perform that operation.

Another interesting feature of the software program is that it will automatically scale if the screen resolution changes. Fences can be downloaded at the Stardock website. The software is compatible with the 32-bit editions of Windows XP as well as both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Iconfinder is easier to use because it let’s you view License details and tags without going to a new page, and lets you download the icon as well without switching pages (this is rare). IconLook also has some good options, for example you can select sizes before performing the search, narrowing your search instantly. Iconfinder has the same functionality, but you can narrow only after your initial search.

Overall I like both sites, perhaps the best practice is to use both. Since neither will provide pages and pages of results, you can easily scan through both sites and find the best icon for you. If you know any other icon finding sites I’d appreciate you sharing, I’m always in need of some good icons!

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There is however a direct way to rename those icons – and many more – by using the Windows Registry instead with the added advantage that you do not have to run another software on the system.

To rename the system icons start the Windows Registry editor with [Windows R], typing regedit and hitting enter. The Registry path in question is HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam \MUICache.

You find many entries under that Registry path and need to scroll down a bit until you find the desired names. The Data column lists the current name of the entry.

To change an entry simply double-click it and change the Value Data to something else. Changes take effect after rebooting, logging off / on or killing explorer.exe.

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The decision was made to search for the setting that would make desktop icons transparent in Windows. It was there, somewhere that was sure but it is sometimes hard to remember if the setting was a standard Windows feature or available through so called Windows tweaking tools.

The option to make desktop icons transparent is a Windows feature which means that every user can set it in his version of Windows without having to install third party software.

It can be found in Control Panel > System. A click on the Advanced tab and Performance loads the menu where the parameter can be changed. The Visual Effects menu contains the entry Use Drop Shadows For Icon Labels On The Desktop. Activating that option will make desktop icons transparent.

This setting reset the theme of the computer which can be easily fixed in the Display Properties.

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Windows however does not automatically move the icons to the right side again when changing the resolution to a higher one. It’s not a big problem if you change the resolution once a year but if you have to do it several times a week it becomes a burden.

Enter the Desktop Icon Manager. This little program saves the current layout of the icons on the desktop in combination with the resolution and can restore the layout with the click of the mouse button.

Supported are the creation of one standard profile that can be restored or individual profiles for each resolution which would come in handy if you work with different resolutions all the time.

Each icon on the desktop is represented by a black dot. Hoovering the mouse over the icon reveals information about that icon.

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