As in earlier versions, in Windows 8.1 the user can customize the appearance of directories by replacing the standard icon in the folder properties with any ICO image. Likewise, you can give your desired look and feel to the labels. But in order to replace the icons of other graphical elements of the Windows shell, for example, applets of the Control Panel, then you have to tinker a little.

You can also use ready-made solutions - sets of system icons, assembled and packed into the installer. You can find and download such icon packs on the Internet without any problems. Unlike third-party themes, before installing which you often have to perform various procedures such as launching patches, icon packs are installed as regular programs.

Which package to choose? For fans of customization of the Windows 8.1 interface, we can first recommend - a free set of cute icons for folders, drives, some file types and Control Panel items. The set is offered in three versions with minor design differences. The installation files also include the Reload Icons Cache utility, designed to eliminate possible problems with displaying icons.

During the installation process, the wizard will prompt you to select a language and create a system restore point. Next, the application will back up some important files, after which it will replace the original icons with the Elementary 8.1 iPack images.

Changes take effect immediately, no restart is required. If you suddenly don't like the modified interface, the icon pack can always be removed from the standard section of the Control Panel "Programs and Features".

The standard designations of Windows folders and files wander from version to version and, perhaps, someone is tired of them. However, many users do not suspect that these icons can be replaced with others. The system's capabilities in this regard are too limited, but, fortunately, third-party developers took care of so that we could diversify the design of Windows 8 to our liking.

Let's figure out how and with what tools you can change the standard Windows 8 icons to more attractive ones.

Changing icons using Windows

Consider a situation when you need to change the icon of any one folder or shortcut to make it stand out from the rest. Suppose you have no special wishes for originality and you will be satisfied with the standard icons from the Windows set.

Change the folder image

• Open the context menu of the folder whose icon you want to change and select Properties.

• Go to the "Settings" tab and click the "Change Icon" button.

• By default, a set of icons from the Shell32 system library will open. Select a suitable image and click OK. If none of the images suits you, you can click “Browse” and select another file with icons. Icons contain different libraries and Windows executables, but to find something specific, you need to know exactly where to look.

• Click on an empty area of \u200b\u200bthe desktop and press F5 - the desktop will update and the folder will change its appearance.

• To return the folder to its original icon, open the icon change window again and click “Restore Defaults”.

Changing the default desktop icons

The standard desktop icons in Windows 8 are This PC, Trash, User Files, and Network.

• Open the Personalization panel to access the settings you want. To get there, call the desktop context menu, click the corresponding item in it.

• Click the Change Desktop Icons in the navigation bar.

• In the "Icon Options" window, highlight what you want to change and click "Change Icon".

• By default, a set of icons from the imageres.dll library will open. Select any image and click OK. The icon will change.

• To return the picture to the default in the "Desktop Icon Options" window, click the "Normal Icon" button.

Change images of program shortcuts

The images of the program shortcut on the desktop are created based on the resources of the program itself. The icon is usually contained in the executable file or some library of that application.

• To change the image of a shortcut, open its properties from the context menu, go to the “Shortcut” tab and click “Change Icon”.

• Choose one of the suggested options, or click Browse and browse to a different file. In our example, the MEGAsync application icon is located in the MEGAsync.exe executable.

After selecting a different icon and pressing OK, the program shortcut will be changed.

Install icons from other sources

On the Internet, you can find a lot of tools for the design of Windows. These are ready-made themes, which include icons for folders and system icons, and thematic sets of pictures in the ico format (single icons), icl (groups of icons of different sizes) or png (ordinary pictures with transparency elements), and applications for changing icons " one click ”.

Icon set

To set a png image as an icon, you must first convert it to ico. To do this, you can use a simple program AveIconifier2.

Drag the png file into the right window of the program, take ico from the left and drop it into the same folder. After that, we change the folder icon in the same way as we discussed above. We indicate the folder with a set of icons as a source.

Here's what happened in the end:

Applications

Programs for changing icons have b aboutthe greatest opportunities. With their help, you can design not only folders and system icons, but also files, disk icons in the "This computer" directory, control panel items, and more.

IconTo

Consider IconTo as an example of such programs. It comes with about 300 icons in different art styles, but you can install not only them.

• Run IconTo as administrator.
• Click on “Specify folder / file”. Let's check if the program can change the icons for a whole file type (let's take, for example, text files).

• Select an icon. The program allows you to install icons from Windows 8 files, from your own, fairly rich set, or any others. Let's take one of the pictures of our fruit set.

• After choosing a suitable picture, click “Set icon”.

Here's what we got: all text files now look very appetizing.

To return them to the standard view, you need to click “Remove icon from folder”.

Other programs work in a similar way. Their capabilities are quite enough to completely transform Windows, but sometimes problems arise with the restoration to its previous form. Therefore, before running such an application, create a restore point in case you are not satisfied with the end result.

23
aug
2015

Collection of icons for Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10

Year of issue: 2015
Genre: Icons
Number of files: 4004
Resolution: 256x256
Format: ico

Description: A collection of icons that will make the folders on your PC beautiful and bright. All icons 4004 pcs, on different topics. Convenient to use, put a photo icon on the folder and you can even know without reading the folder signature that there is a photo, etc.

17
oct
2018

Oleg, Irkutsk

|

17-10-2018 15:17:53

26
mar
2013

Car pack 2013 for Windows 7, 8 / Themes for Windows 7, 8

Year of issue: 2013
Genre: Themes

Format: JPG, exe

Bit depth: 32/64-bit
Description: Car pack 2013 v.1 contains a variety of themes with cars. The pack was created for fans and simply connoisseurs of cars, it has themes with both dark and light tones. Nice-looking desktop and interface, well-visible start menu, convenient system windows that will not peer at you "what is written there", but will allow you to calmly and comfortably go about your business at the computer.
Add. Information: This pack p ...

12
dec
2013

DeskScapes 8 animated desktop wallpaper in Windows 8 1.0

Year of issue: 2013
Genre: Animated wallpaper
Developer: Stardock Corporation
Developer site: http://www.stardock.com/products/deskscapes/
Interface language: English
Build Type: Standard
Bit depth: 64/86
Operating system: Windows 8
System requirements: Windows 8.1 / 8/7 Minimum screen resolution: 1024 x 768 Microsoft DirectX ™
Description: DeskScapes 8 is an excellent program for replacing the static background of the Windows desktop with animated. The new version has full compatibility with Windows 8, a redesigned interface and 40 special effects for photo and video wallpapers. The program is incredible ...

07
aug
2014

SamDrivers 14.8 - Collection of drivers for Windows

Year of issue: 2014
Genre: Drivers
Developer: SamLab.ws
Developer site: http://samlab.ws/ | http://driveroff.net/
Interface language: Multilingual (Russian is present)
Build Type: Standard
Bit depth: 32/64-bit
Operating system: Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008, 7, 8, 8.1
Description: Collection of drivers from SamLab.ws for all 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 to Windows 8.1 Update 1 including server platforms. As a shell-installer for auto-detecting your hardware and automatically installing the necessary drivers, special pro ...

11
oct
2013

ADVANCED Codecs for Windows 7 and 8 4.2.8+ x64 Components 32/64 bit

Year of issue: 2013
Genre: Codec
Developer: Shark007
Developer site: http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html
Interface language: English
Build Type: Standard
Bit depth: 32/64 bit
Operating System: Windows 7.8
Description: ADVANCED Codecs for Windows 7 and 8 is a fresh version of the program, which is a complete automated tool designed to install the main codecs and decoders for your Windows system. This package does not have any additional players and does not change the default system file associations. In addition, when installed, it aut ...

12
but I
2008

The most needed programs for smartphones, Symbian 6,7,8,8.1 / ooo (oo)

Year of release 2005-2008 Genre of program for smartphones Developer NOKIA Publisher SymBoSS, illusion, dotsis, Psiloc, retail-binpda, Kaspersky Mobile, SymbianWare, iNTERNAL-PWNPDA Developer site nokia.com.ua Interface language Rus / Eng Platform S60 2rd Edition (OS 6.1,7.0,8.0,8.1) System requirements cpu 120-250 Mhz, s60.os.symbian 6,7.8.8.1
Description: THE MOST USEFUL PROGRAMS FOR SMARTPHONES BASED ON SIMBIAN 6, 7, 8, 8.1
Add. Information: AutoLock_v0.5b RescoViewer.v4.01-XiMpDA.sis VIEW PHOTOS VIEW PHOTOS Zensis Ltd. RiteViewer SP v1.10.SIS S60 ZIP archiver HandyBook.sis HandyDates.sis HandyRemin ...

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jan
2010

Windows icons set

Year of issue: 2009
Genre: Graphic design
Number of files: 2189
Resolution: 128x128 / 256x256
Format: ICO
Description: A selection of beautiful and original icons to change the appearance of folders, files, programs on your desktop and more.
Add. information: Replace, change and install icons! It's no secret that people always strive to change their world around and make it more beautiful! Of course, this cannot but concern our beloved computer, because some spend almost all their day at it! And replacement or change, or just installing an icon ...

09
but I
2017

Windows 10 Manager 2.1.8 DC 10/20/2017 RePack (portable) by KpoJIuK

Year of issue: 2017
Genre: Optimization, system cleaning
Developer: Yamicsoft
Developer site: http://www.yamicsoft.com/ru/windows10manager/product.html
Interface language: Russian
Build Type: RePack
Bit depth: 32/64-bit
Operating system: Windows 10
Description: Windows 10 Manager is an all-in-one utility for Microsoft Windows 10, it includes more than forty different utilities to optimize, tweak, clean, speed up and restore your Windows 10, helps make your system faster, fix system malfunctions, improve stability and security, personalize your copy ...

05
jul
2012

Classic start menu in Windows 7.8 3.5.1

Year of issue: 2012
Genre: Changes to the Windows 7/8 interface
Developer: Classic Shell
Developer site: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/features.html
Interface language: Multilingual (Russian is present)
Bit depth: 32/64-bit
Operating system: Windows 7, 8
Format: exe
Description: This program is designed to enable the classic style of the Start menu and the features of Windows 7 / Windows 8 Explorer. The Classic Start Menu is a clone of the original Start Menu that can be found in all versions of Windows from 95 to Vista. It has a number of additional features: * Drag and drop, for organ ...

19
oct
2007

Year of issue: 2007
Description: About 600 high-quality icons for WINDOWS, ICO, PNG formats. The icons are located in the folders of the corresponding subject.
Add. Information: RAR-archive 54.4 MB (57 047 267 bytes) Password for the archive: tfile.ru
RECOMMEND: Excellent visualizer Winampa 3D-GoGo 1.20 (strawberry lovers) 16+

08
but I
2012

Theme for Windows 7 in Spider Dark style / Theme for Windows 7

Year of issue: 2012
Genre: Themes
Number of files: 1
Resolution: 1600x1200, 2560x1600
Format: JPG, exe
Description: Black Spiderman theme supports transparency effect, icon replacement, video wallpapers, system window backgrounds and much more. Works on both 32-bit and 64-bit OS. Performance is unknown on Vista.

08
but I
2012

Theme for Windows 7 in the style of FC "Arsenal" / Theme for Windows 7

Year of issue: 2012
Genre: Theme
Number of files: 1
Resolution: 1600x1200, 2560x1600
Format: JPG, theme, exe
Description: Football fans are in awe, and especially Arsenal football club. It is possible for you to install a real football theme for Windows 7 on your desktop. As you can see, there are many add-ons and gadgets for the theme.
Add. Information: Difficulties during installation should not arise, everything is very clear there.

Year of issue: 2010
Genre: Themes
Number of files: 35
Resolution: 1600x1200, 2560x1600
Format: JPG, theme, exe
Bit depth: 32 / 64bit
Interface language: Russian
Operating system: Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, Home Premium, Enterprise.
Description: Transparent themes for the Windows 7 operating system. All design elements are thought out so well that the theme can be called ideal. It looks just class, just like glass. Installation instructions: 1) Install UniversalThemePatcher-x64.exe or UniversalThemePatcher-x86.exe depending on the bitness of your operating system 2) Select p ...

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but I
2012

Theme for Windows 7 in AMD style / Theme for Windows 7

Year of issue: 2012
Genre: Theme
Number of files: 1
Resolution: 1600x1200, 2560x1600
Format: JPG, exe
Description: High quality theme in dark colors with AMD logo. The theme works on both 32 and 64 bit systems. The assembly includes a lot of gadgets and skins.
Add. Information: Difficulties during installation should not arise, everything is very clear there. The theme comes with additional gadgets that you can also install as an add-on.