Windows 7 — Choosing and Changing the Desktop Icons

In earlier versions of Windows, we had little choice on which of the standard Windows icons would be shown on the Windows Desktop. That started to change with Windows XP, but you had to know where to find the options.

Windows 7 makes it easy — you start at the Control Panel ( Start Button > Control Panel ) and then select Appearance and Personalization.

(click on the image for a larger version)

Once you select Appearance and Personalization, you get a new dialog box — actually, a new view of the Control Panel dialog box.

Two things to notice here: there’s a "breadcrumb" trail showing where you are (the Personalization dialog box) within the Appearance and Personalization dialog box.

The other thing to notice is that you can choose to Change desktop icons, Change mouse pointers or to Change your account picture ( the picture that shows at the top of the Start menu ).

Click on Change desktop icons…

Now, we get the Desktop Icon Settings dialog box. At this dialog box, we are able to choose whether to display the Computer (a.k.a. My Commputer) icon, the User’s files icon (a shortcut to the formerly termed My Documents folder, the Recycle Bin (why would you not want to display this?), the Network icon (My Networks) and the Control Panel icon.

You can also choose to change the icon images or restore the default icon images.

Icon images may be changed when you change desktop themes. In this dialog box, you are also able to prevent (or allow) themes to change desktop icons.

(click on the image for a larger version)