Are you still looking at the plain WindowsXP or 2000 Icons?  You know, those little picture on your desktop that do nothing.  I mean really, everything else reacts to your mouse or mouse clicks if you're running XP but those Icons do nothing.  They just sit there waiting to be clicked on and even then nothing really happens.  It seems to me that Microsoft would have done something about this.  Unfortunately they didn't.  So what can we do to improve the look and feel of the Icons?  You could use DesktopX and find a Zoomer ( A Desktop Icon for DesktopX that Smoothy Grows from 48x48 pixels to 128x128 pixels or so on mouse over) for each and every program you want to have on your desktop, but believe me this is too much trouble.

    Recently Stardock release IconX which makes setting up your desktop icons to be animated easy.  But not only that it allows you to add sounds and special effects to mouse overs, clicks and double Clicks.  The program is really awesome and has become a staple of my desktop customization.  It's not only for the pretty Factor though, the most important thing for me is that the program allows that Icons to give me feedback when I run the mouse over them or click on them.

Without IconX Note: The Icons used are not the standard WindowsXP Icons they are an Icon package by Paul Boyer.  They are however using the default Windows settings.	With IconX

    As you can see from the above screen shots IconX makes quite the difference even without the animations, or special effects.  In the without IconX screen shot the standard Windows XP Icons are 32x32 pixels and kinda small and bland.  Now look at the with IconX screenshot again, notice the shadows that make the Icons appear to float above the screen!  Also the Icons are set at 48x48 pixels which is another feature of IconX it allows you to set your icons to be what ever size you want.

Pretty neat so far but wait, It gets better:

Here's where it really gets good.  

    First let's look at the top set of Icons.  When sitting on the desktop the icon is 48x48 pixels but as you run your cursor over it , it grows to 72x72.  Not only does it grow to that size but it does it in a smooth animation.  This is the way I have my desktop set up, it you wanted to you could have the Icons double or even triple in size or just to the larger size with no animation.

    Now let's look at the lower set.  It's the same icon but I have it set to be semitransparent while just sitting around on the desktop.  When you run your mouse over it it not only grows but it also looses it's transparency to become completely visible.  This is how my desktop runs most all the time.

Here's a small video file that will give you an example of  IconX in action.  Link

There are several other neat options that you can use in IconX here is a shot of the configuration screen. Don't let this scare you though, notice the preset box at the bottom.  that's where Stardock has provided a handful of configurations for you to use and modify. 

    I have been using IconX since it's inception as part of DesktopX and it has become an essential part of my desktop experience.  When I am forced to work on a computer that doesn't have IconX it just seems wrong for the icons to not react to mouse overs and clicks.  To me it comes in right behind WindowBlinds as essential for customizing the desktop.

    Another Feature that I almost forgot is one of the neatest.  If you have an icon on your desktop that is just ugly or maybe you just don't like it, you can right click on the icon and change it with another icon file or a .png file.  There are excellent icons for most every commonly used program in the Object Dock section of Wincustomize.com

I have however found some problems with the program, nothing that is a show stopper, mostly just annoyances.

1.  You Can't export/import your settings.  For instance I wanted to set my laptop up to have the same settings as my desktop.  To achieve this I had to hunt the configuration file down and copy it to the laptop.  Once I had it on the lap top I couldn't just double click it to get it to work.  I even tried to manually associate it with IconX which didn't work either.  I had to once again go to the file manager and drop the file in the appropriate folder in the IconX directory.  I know that this wouldn't be a problem for most but, what if I wanted to share my configuration with someone?  Isn't that part of the whole skinning community thing? 

2.  When loading a preset, why do I have to first click load and then apply.  shouldn't clicking apply be enough?  I think so.

3.  There are not enough Presets.  If we can't share them then there needs to be a dozen or more presets so that someone that doesn't want to dive into the settings can have a few more choices.

    You really can't understand how neat this little program is until you use it. No words or picture can really explain it fully so, I suggest that you download the evaluation copy and give it a whirl.

IconX Website

Stardock Website

I was just pointed to another review of IconX by BlueDev that you will want to look over also.  Link

A little about me:  I have been in the desktop customization community for 5+ years (My Wincustomize Site).  In that time I have beta tested and skinned many of Stardocks products along with some others.  I do not claim to be unbiased in my review of Stardocks products, they are what I have learned to skin with and will continue to use.  I will not, however intentionally lie to you about the features or anything else related to the products.  If something irritates me with a product  I will write it in my article. ( how else would I get it fixed )