The next program in my series of Customizing Essentials is IconPackager.  Another one of the neat little programs from Stardock.  IconPackager has a simple mission in life to let you change all your system Icons easily.  It does this really well.  Here's an example:

Windows standard icons	Icons from the Xtoon Icon package.

This is only one example, there are currently over 500 Icon packages in the IconPackager section of Wincustomize.  

    IconPackager lets you install a whole package of icons that generally cover all your system icons.  To do this all you have to do is start up IconPackager and Click on the Icon package that you want to load.  The Click load and Apply.  In a few seconds all of your system Icons will change.  Here's a screenshot of the interface:

It's really that simple, you can change your icons with only a couple of clicks.  Here's a shot showing a preview of a few icon packages that are available at Wincustomize:

IconPackager doesn't stop there.  If you are really serious about customizing your desktop it will also allow you to change each icon individually.  From a simple user interface using the Icons and cursors section of the program.

The setting section lets you do many things that are either hard to find or do in the standard windows environment.  Things such as set your default Icon size. ( I use 48x48 pixels)  You can also adjust the size of the icon cache and many other settings.

The last but certainly not least part of Icon packager is the Icon Explorer. This program lets you view and extract Icon and cursors from various file formats including exe, icl and others.

Stardock has had a long time to polish IconPackager and there is only one little thing that bugs me about the program.  To apply a package I have to click load and apply, WHY is this necessary?  Shouldn't clicking Apply invoke the package to load and apply it's self?  I think so,  I have watched other people use the program that are used to the Windows way of apply then OK and this load, apply and then OK really confuses them. 

Now for the people that upload IconPackages.  Here we have a problem, most people upload the icon package with extra icons or an .ICL file to go along with it.  This is great for those of us who don't mind unzipping the file and then installing it to Iconpackager but, for those either new or lazy( like me) this is a real pain.  My suggestion is that if you upload to the Iconpackager section of a skinning website you upload the .ip file so that it will auto install for those of us who either don't know how to install it otherwise or are just too lazy.  If you want to share that .icl file or extra icons we need to get Stardock to add a new section for them.

Give Iconpackager a try and see what you think.

Links:

Stardocks Website - The company that makes Iconpackager and other cool software.

IconPackager Website - Get IconPackager here.

WinCustomize - Go to the IconPackager section to get new packages.

Customizing Essentials part I, IconX

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 )