Are you tired of all those identical yellow folders? Install MyFolder and pimp up the standard Windows file manager by customizing your folders' appearance. This program makes it easy and fun!

You can select the folder's new color either directly in MyFolder interface or by selecting the correspondent option in the folder's context menu. This second option is probably more comfortable, because when working from the interface you have to manually select each folder. I think this could be improved by allowing users to open several folders at the same time and then apply their chosen icons separately to each one of them.

The program includes a nice choice of new folder icons, including variations in color and also some special icons to mark folders as important, private, favourite and so on. The good thing is that you can add your own icons to the program's library.

Download MyFolder Free 2.0.1 in Softonic

IconsExtract allows you to extract icons from any file in your system – that is, any file that can be used as icon library.

The program can work with single files or complete folders, extracting all found icons in just a few seconds. I especially liked the possibility to choose any of your current running processes and applications to extract their icons and also the options to filter results by color depth and icon size.

IconsExtract doesn't require installation and includes a very simple interface that is quite self-explanatory. It also displays advanced information about each icon and enables you save them as ICO files, either one by one or saving as many icons as you want simultaneously. You can also copy any of them to the Clipboard for later usage in a third-party graphic tool. Unfortunately I could only save the smallest version of the icon (16x16 pixels), whereas if I used the copying tool I could use the larger size (48x48 pixels).

Download IconsExtract 1.45 in Softonic

IcoFX is an award winning freeware icon editor. It is an all-in-one solution for icon creation, extraction and editing. It is designed to work with Windows XP and Windows Vista icons supporting transparency.

With a wealth of tools and more than 40 effects at your fingertips, there’s virtually no limit to the icons you can create. You can convert your favorite images into icons, or icons into images. With IcoFX you can extract icons from other files, including Windows Vista files. You can easily work with multiple files using the batch processing capability of IcoFX.

This is what IcoFX has to offer:

• Support for transparency (alpha channel)
• Batch processing for import, export and extract
• More than 40 effects + custom filter
• Resolutions up to 256x256
• Data types: 2, 16, 256, True Color, True Color + Alpha
• Extract icons from 32 bit exe and dll
• Import and export images
• Transparent, Brighten/Darken, Blur/Sharpen tools

Download IcoFX 1.63 in Softonic

Making your own icons is a cool way to add a touch of class to your desktop without adding any widgets or changing the theme.

Easy Picture2Icon allows you to create snappy and customised Windows icons based on your favourite images and designs. So for example, if you have a favourite photo, Easy Picture2Icon can simply process it and turn it instantly into an icon you can use on your desktop. It doesn't accept all file types but at the moment, Easy Picture2Icon is able to convert digital pictures into BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG and PNG files to Windows icons (ICO).

However, that's as far as it goes because Easy Picture2Icon then allows you to use your favourite graphical editor to retouch and add your own special effects to icons. Easy Picture2Icon does however allow you to make transparent icons and you can choose which color to make transparent.

Easy Picture2Icon is a great way to get started creating your own icons although it's a shame it doesn't come bundled with a more comprehensive editor.

Download Easy Picture2Icon 2.5 in Softonic

Bandoo adds new emotions, more technically ‘emot-icons’, to your Yahoo! and MSN messenger. They are well designed, with a cartoon style and lovely pastel shades. They are also animated, and some are really sweet, like the little angel with shining nimbus that at times flutters its wings, or the shy character with glinting eyes and red cheeks.

The program adds a bar on your messenger, just above where you write your text. There are five menus to choose from, one to add emoticons, the next to add animated text, then Winks, Nudges and User pictures at the end. Each category contains dozens of new animations divided into categories, although, as you might guess, the emoticons selection is far wider.

Unfortunately, each menu takes some time to load all the items it contains and even when you select one, the program has to download it, which again takes few seconds. Although this could mean that you might have new animations every now and again, you will have to pay a price in patience.

Bored with the standard Yahoo! and MSN messenger emoticons? Bring new life to your IM with hundreds of free cartoon style, beautifully coloured animations. The only downside is that the program takes a while to load and then download the emoticons into your chat.

Download Bandoo 2.0 in Softonic

Pixelformer is a complete icon tool with which you can edit any existent icon or create your own from scratch.

The program features a quite dark interface that doesn't really suit it, but you can't customize it in any way. What really surprised me was the fact that Pixelformer supports layers (something you don't usually find in small editors) and also the possibility to create icons in just about any size from 16x16 to 256x256. What's more, you can create icons from any other image by importing the file into Pixelformer and selecting the area you want.

On the downside, Pixelformer has also some drawbacks. The first one is a rather scarce set of tools, among which I missed the ability to crop and a more powerful zoom tool. There are no special effects or filters to apply to your icons, nor a configuration menu to customize the program's appearance and behavior.

Pixelformer is a great pixel editor with support for layers and many other interesting features, though it lacks some more advanced tools.

Download Pixelformer 0.8.1 in Softonic

Most of the icons Windows uses for drives are very boring and generic. The only thing that changes is the letter which is why I like My Drives because it allows you to assign a different icon to each one whether its your internal hard drive or an external drive.

What I like about this is it's much easier to differentiate between drives rather than have to remember a letter. I have so many attached to my PC that it's sometimes difficult to remember what contains what but I somehow find it much easier with different icons. The program comes preinstalled with several different options for logos such as a cellphone, a pendrive, video camera, photo, logo, Windows partition, and so on. However, it's a shame it doesn't come with a lot more because drives can be used to store much more than these - the most obvious being documents - but it doesn't cater for all. On the plus side, it's easy to install and assign icons to your drives. The most annoying thing however is that once you click "Apply Changes" the computer is restarted. This is because Windows can't handle changing the image whilst Windows is operating - even Vista.

My Drives is a clever little program that gives you more control over your drive icons but it's s ahem about all the annoying restarts.

Download My Drives 1.4 in Softonic

If you've decorated your entire house with Christmas stuff, why not doing the same with your computer?

Start by customizing system icons with this great collection of Christmas-themed icons for your PC. The Merry Christmas PNG Pack includes fifty icons featuring the most typical elements in this holiday season: Santa hats, snowmen, gifts, Christmas trees, colored balls, stars and so on. However, I missed having some more variety – for example, there are a bunch of Santa hats, but only one gingerbread cookie and one snowball.

All of them are saved in PNG format, which allows transparency effects. Also, their generous size (256x256 in most of them) enables you to enjoy them in full size without losing any quality.

Get your PC in the holiday spirit with this excellent pack of icons.

Download Merry Christmas PNG Pack in Softonic

Windows Vista has some really nice eyecandy that I wouldn't mind having on my computer as well - that is, if that didn't imply changing my operating system. As long as there are apps like Vista Drive Icons, I can have some of that Vista graphic treats while keeping Windows XP.

In this case, Vista Drive Icons replaces XP drive standard icons with Vista-themed icons, including a nice blue progress bar, which enables you to see how much space you're using - and how much you have left - at a glance. It's really useful to get an idea of space management without having to open the Properties dialog.

Pity this tool doesn't work with networked drives. It will only display the bar for your local hard drives.

Add a Vista-like progress bar to your hard drive icon and see how space is being used.

Download Vista Drive Icons 1.3 in Softonic

Having dozens of folders helps you categorize files in a better way, but it also makes it more difficult to find what you're exactly looking for, since they all look the same.

The best solution then is to give each folder a different color with iColorFolder. This simple tool also includes a few skins to change the folder's appearance, but I strongly recommend you to download the extra skin package available from the author's website.

After installing the program, folders will be automatically updated with the new skin selected by default, but you can change it afterwards and select a new color simply by right clicking on any folder you want to customize. And if you grow tired of so many colors there's also the possibility to go back to standard yellow folders.

iColorFolder is an easy, fun way to customize your icons and organize files in a more efficient way.

Download iColorFolder 1.4.2 in Softonic

This pack includes more than a hundred different files to replace your old icons with these bright new Vista-inspired ones in a very easy, quick way. The pack is specially designed to be installed with IconPackager and will change basically most of your system icons and give your PC a fresher, nicer aspect.

Download Vista Ultimate Icons 1.2 (IconPackager) in Softonic

IconTweaker is a freeware application that allows you to customize all your Windows icons. Icons are one of main parts of the Windows interface. Customizing them can make your desktop look better and can also improve the usability, because you can make it easier to recognize items.

Using the IconTweaker theme system, designers can share their icons with other people. IconTweaker has an open XML-based theme format that can be extended using plug-ins. If you created an IconTweaker theme for your icons, you can be sure they can be used by everyone. Many themes with beautiful icons are already included and ready to use.

Download IconTweaker 1.12 in Softonic

IconShock Vusta Incons is a pack of 6 Vista style icons with different styles ideal for you to integrate in your web applications, software, catalogs, games, printing media and much more. Sizes range from from 16px to 256px.

The developer speciliases in sets of Vista, Mac, XP icons entirely compatible with web and development environments such as VisualStudio, Java, Swing, Delphi, Dreamweaver and more.

Download IconShock Free Vista Icons 1.0 in Softonic

DeskSweeper enables you to hide all desktop icons (including Recycle Bin, My Computer, Network Neighbourhood, etc.) DeskSweeper is always visible in the Windows system tray for easy access.

A single mouseclick is all you need to hide or view your desktop icons. This most recent version is always updated with several new options and features.

Download DeskSweeper 2.0 in Softonic

@icon sushi is an image to icon converter that supports the mask editor and the creation of Windows XP 32bit/Windows Vista format icons.

Take a look at what this program has to offer:

• Support for Windows XP 32bit Icons
• Support for Multiple-Icon which contains some icons in a file
• Edit Alpha channel and Transparency-Mask
• Open 1x1 to 128x128 size of images
• Open 1/4/8/24/32bits color images
• Import: ICO/BMP/PNG/PSD/EXE/DLL/ICL, Export: ICO/BMP/PNG/ICL
• Copy to / Paste from Clipboard

Download @icon sushi 1.21 in Softonic

Icons from file is a tool for extracting icons or icon arrays from files (EXE, DLL, OCX, etc.) with ability to scan folders to search for EXE, DLL and OCX files, which contain icons.

Extracted icons can be saved (exported) to file - all or selected icon to ICO, BMP, JPEG, EMF files and all icons as one picture to BMP, JPEG or EMF file. There is an ability to extract and save all icons from all files in selected folder at a time. Also, all icons from the selected file can be exported to HTML document (HTM, HTML) or dBase 5 file (DBF). Saving high color icons (which have more than 16 colors) is also possible. Export operations can be performed also via command line.

Download Icons From File 3.32 in Softonic

Badges allows placing handy emblems upon familiar Windows icons. From now there is no need to invent sophisticated file names, to drag icons to different corners of the screen or to seek new ico-files for having fast access to a folder with recent projects or with latest images. Place a badge on the desired icon and you will notice it immediately!

The program features ten different kinds of badges, each represents its own semantic category: certified, cool, danger, delete, distinguished, favourite, important, new, personal and web. This will satisfy even exacting users. Also, the quantity of the placed badges is unlimited.

Take a look at what Shedko Badges has to offer:

• Custom themes ssupport
• Seamless integration with Windows Explorer and core services
• Interaction with all Windows applications
• Exquisite design
• Convenient manager for all the badges you placed
• Support for many languages

Download Shedko Badges 1.5 in Softonic

Icon Explorer allows you to completely manage icon libraries (ICL), standalone icons and executable that contains icons as resources. It supports 32bit icons too. It has powerfull searching tool that searches specified path with directory recursion and examines any file if it contains any icon and then extract it. Icons can be saved as icons, individual icon images or bitmaps.

Download Icon Explorer 2.4 in Softonic

Santa Claus Hat Icons is just a simple pack of five icons inspired in the image of Santa Claus's hat, but they're beautifully designed and will look really cool on your Christmas-ready desktop. Unzip them and enhoy, ho ho ho!

Download Santa Claus Hat Icons 1.0 in Softonic

IconMania is a collection of files, not an application or themes pack, providing hand-picked quality desktop icons. With a multitude of categories, the collection has icons regarding computer and console gaming, food, music, cartoons, organisms and so much more. Find almost any type of icon from any subject imaginable in this massive vault. Unlike several icon packs out there, this software takes pride in correctly sorting, spelling and optimizing each file individually.

Download IconMania 8.01 in Softonic