An icon is a small graphic that Windows and many other operating systems use to represent files. You can also set custom icons to shortcuts, folders, website links and other file types. Your computer has plenty of applications that may have one or more usable icons. If you do not find any of these icons appealing, you can make your icon by drawing it in Microsoft Paint and saving it as file with the ".ico" extension.
Instructions
For Windows 7 Users
1. Click the "Start" button located on the taskbar and type "mspaint" on the search bar. Press the "Enter" key to load Microsoft Paint.
2. Click the dark blue button found left of the "Home" tab and select "Properties." Set the "Width" and "Height" values to match your desired icon size in pixels. (See the Tips section below to learn more about standard icon sizes.) Click the "OK" button to let Microsoft Paint resize the canvas.
3. Click the "Home" tab and then click on the "Magnifier" in the "Tools" group. Click anywhere on the canvas to increase the zoom level. Keep clicking until the canvas nearly fills up your window.
4. Use the other tools found in the "Tools" group to make your icon. Click on any of the available colors in the "Colors" group to set the active color of the selected tool. Draw or paint on the canvas by using the left mouse button.
5. Click the blue menu button again and choose "Save as." Set the file name to any name you wish and add ".ico" (without quotes) next to it. Set the "Save as type" box to "24-bit Bitmap" so Microsoft Paint properly saves the file as an icon. Click the "Save" button to save the icon in the current folder.
For Windows Vista and Older Windows Users
6. Click the Start button and go to "Run." Type "mspaint" and click the "OK" button. If you are using Windows Vista, type "mspaint" in the search box and press "Enter."
7. Go to the "Image" menu on the top of the Microsoft Paint window and click "Choose Attributes." Fill in the text boxes that represent the desired dimensions of your icon and click "OK" to commit the changes. See the tips section below if you need help with the proper dimensions.
8. Click the magnifying glass icon on the toolbox and place the mouse cursor over the canvas. Keep clicking the left mouse button until the view zooms in to large view, where you can still see the entire canvas.
9. Draw on the canvas using any of the drawing and paint tools found on the left toolbox. Click on any of the colors on the bottom color palette to link the color to the tool.
10. Click on the "File" menu and select "Save as" to bring up the standard Save dialog. Type any file name that you wish in the corresponding text box and add ".ico" as a suffix so Windows recognizes it as an icon. Change the "Save as type" box to "24-bit Bitmap" and click "Save" to create the icon in the present location.
