# Windows XP Icons **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339 "2002-07-17T03:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339/1 "2002-07-17T03:29:45Z")
Well, I finally made the switch to XP and I’ve got the thing running in “Classic” mode because the Play-Skool interface annoys the crap out of me. Now, what I want to do is ditch the annoyingly blurry and out of focus icons that MS has foisted upon us since the introduction of ME. Is there an easy way to do this? I’ve tried poking around to see if they’ve hidden the old ones anywhere, but I can’t find 'em. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339/2 "2002-07-17T04:32:20Z")
Are you talking about the new ones for “My Computer” and the like, or the sort of crappy old ones that are under “Administrative Tools” in the control panel? If you are having problems with stuff like “My Computer” and the like, you might be having a video card/monitor/resolution issue. I’ve never thought those to be blurry or out-of-focus. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339/3 "2002-07-17T04:43:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ZipperJJ \* > \*\*Are you talking about the new ones for “My Computer” and the like, or the sort of crappy old ones that are under “Administrative Tools” in the control panel? > > If you are having problems with stuff like “My Computer” and the like, you might be having a video card/monitor/resolution issue. I’ve never thought those to be blurry or out-of-focus. \*\* yeah, I’m talking about the “My Computer” and the like. Its not a video card issue as they look the same on every PC. They all have this frosted glass/airbrush look about them and I hate 'em! I also dislike the ones that are on damn near everything else that comes pre-installed with XP. I’ve thought about reskinning the thing, but I don’t know if that’ll cause my system to bog down or not. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339/4 "2002-07-17T08:15:47Z")
By “old ones” you mean the ones that came with Win2k? Or Win98? No matter, most of the standard desktop icons are stored in **explorer.exe** and **shell32.dll**. Snatch a copy of that file from the other OS, rename it/them to some innocent name and put it in your Windows directory. You’ll either need to do a registry hack or get the latest TweakUI control panel applet to change icons for My Computer and their ilk. ---
**Author:** ![Snetho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Snetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snetho)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339/5 "2002-07-17T10:10:04Z")
No registry hack needed… Right-click on the desktop \> Select ‘Properties’ \> Desktop \> Customize Desktop The rest is self-explanatory… I like Horseflesh’s suggestion of trying to get those two files from an older OS and renaming them…I just looked and there are two other places to find old icons (without having to copy from an old OS) and they are:‘moricons.dll’ and ‘progman.exe’…but the selection is not that great… Note: the desktop icons won’t change until you hit ‘Apply’ (or ‘OK’) on the Properties window… ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-icons/119339/6 "2002-07-17T16:16:50Z")
Oh man, the default desktop for XP is horrendous.