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Find Desktop Folders Quickly with Custom Icons
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 1:00 AM on January 5, 2008
Even with the specialised "files" sticking out of them, the folder icons on a Windows Vista desktop can be pretty hard to tell apart, and there's no built-in OS X-like colouring application to aid quick location. The Dumb Little Man blog posts a dead-simple guide to overcoming look-alikes with custom icons. It's fairly similar to how you do the same in Windows XP, but worth revisiting for a more navigable desktop.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
ComicDork
Posted 8:37 AM 4/1/08
Uh, if you're using Vista and this is a problem for you (or even if you're just using Vista), then you have really 2 options:
- Revert back to XP. You'll be much happier (lord knows I am)
- Get a Mac. So much easier on a Mac.
There's a reason that Vista only has 7% of the OS market: it SUCKS. So skip trying to change the icons and just change the OS.
ComicDork
chris-mcc
Posted 9:26 AM 4/1/08
Hmm. This might be a fix for my "Downloads" folder not using his default blue icon.
chris-mcc
orev
Posted 12:40 PM 4/1/08
@ComicDork: Take your Vista hate and go home. Vista's not perfect, but neither was XP when it came out SIX YEARS AGO.
orev
GBirdii
Posted 12:07 PM 4/1/08
Uhm...why are people still using desktop icons? There's a reason why Vista has a really robust and easy to access search engine, and there's a reason why you have an option of "hiding all desktop icons". Even if you don't have vista... Launchy, Quicksilver, or Katapult can do the job pretty well too. Doesn't matter what OS you run, your messy and fugly desktop is an extension of how messy and fugly you are. Don't blame the OS.
GBirdii
molife
Posted 2:28 PM 4/1/08
OREV - How much is Microsoft paying to post in blogs these days? ;)
GBIRDII - Can you use the Vista option to find where tcp/ip settings are? (it took me like 6 mouse clicks yesterday!) Or can it find where they hid accessories? Or the control panel for cryin out loud?!!! How bout making it easy to simply find stuff in the first place?! Instead of having to use a damn search engine!
COMICDORK - Amen brother!!! Maybe if they would have made it easy to change folder icons in Vista there would be ONE thing nice to say about it!
molife
iofthestorm
Posted 4:10 PM 4/1/08
@molife & @ComicDork: How much is apple paying you guys? There's a reason Vista has 7% market share: It's because XP isn't shitty like the previous consumer versions of Windows, and Vista's only been out for a year. By this point, most people who need a computer have one and don't need a new one.
Uhh, Control Panel? That's right on the start menu, troll. Check your start menu settings, same as it's always been. The TCP/IP settings thing is retarded, I will give you that but you shouldn't need to access that on a daily basis anyway. Also, the fact that you can set a .gif or .jpg as a folder icon is a lot nicer than trying to make a .ico in paint and having the alpha channel totally messed up.
iofthestorm
skilled1
Posted 6:28 PM 4/1/08
A: macs suck unless you are using them for video editing / obscene ammounts of graphic work.
b: (driected @OREV ) so what if XP came out OMG SIX YEARS AGO!!1one~, SP3 runs faster then vista.
skilled1
chris-mcc
Posted 8:06 PM 4/1/08
Jeeze you guys are so mean.
Just a note I found a fix to my yellow Downloads folder problem... [www.howtogeek.com]
chris-mcc
skilled1
Posted 2:49 AM 5/1/08
@CHRIS-MCC
now THAT is something that needs to be on the main page of lifehacker
skilled1
Posco Grubb
Posted 4:32 PM 7/1/08
Ok, there's no built-in program to color folder icons, but it's a lot easier to use iColorFolder than using Dumb Little Man's dumb method. (doing a screen capture and using a JPG as an icon means there's no transparency) And just because it's an add-on software doesn't make Mac OS any better than, say, XP running your favorite not-available-for-the-Mac shootemup. (ok, sorry! sorry!)
That notwithstanding, Dumb Little Man's method for Vista is pretty much the same procedure in XP so why all the cross-fire hate between Vista and XP?? Move your OS flame wars to some other forum, please.
@GBirdii: I actually like neatly arranged and colored desktop icons. I'm a neat freak that way.
Posco Grubb
soozie
Posted 6:34 PM 8/1/08
I've only been using Vista for a few days (takes some getting used to after XP). . . but one thing's bugging me. When I used to type into the 'RUN' feature in XP, it would be remembered for a certain length of time so I didn't have to keep retyping the same thing. But now, nothing's remembered at all. As soon as I've typed something - it disappears from the memory immediately. Is anyone else having the same problem, or have I overlooked something really obvious??
soozie