In this Windows 7 lesson, we will learn about “Windows 7 System Icons”, and how to place them on your desktop. By default, after a fresh installation of Windows 7, you only see one “System Icon” on your desktop, which is “Recycle Bin”. However, there are a total of 5 System Icons, which can be placed on your desktop.
To place other default System Icons on your desktop, Right-Click on an empty area of your Desktop, and choose Personalize, and then click “Change Desktop Icons” from left side pane.
If you are using Windows 7 Starter, or Home Basic, then as I told you before that, there is no Personalize option in Right-Click menu. To access “Change Desktop Icons” in Windows 7 Starter, or Home Basic, Click on Start Menu, and type “Icons”, in Search Box. From the search results, click on “Show or hide common icons on the desktop”. You will now have the same dialog box as in Windows 7 Ultimate.
So, here you have 5 default System Icons to choose from, and “Recycle Bin” is already checked. You can make a check mark on the desire icons, which you want to have on your Desktop for easy access. I will advise you to check them all, because we will use all of them in our next tutorials.
In the preview pane below, you can see the default style of every System Icon. If you need, then you can change the icon styles. First, select the icon for which you want to have a different style, like, I want to have a different icon for “Computer”, and then click on “Change Icon” button. Here you will have a huge list of icons to select from. If you have more icons available on your computer, then you can change the location, by clicking on “Browse” button, and browse for the location, where you have saved the icons. Press “OK” button after having an appropriate icon style. This way, you can change the look of, all the 5 icons, one by one. Press “OK” button again to finalize your changes.
Now, you can see all the 5 default “System Icons” on your desktop. If you want to revert to the default look for your icons. The again access the “Desktop Icon Settings” window. Select the icon, for which you want to have the default look, and then click “Restore Default” button. Press “OK” to apply changes.
In my previous chapter, I had described about “Creating Shortcuts” for your applications and folders. Many people do the same to place “System Icons” on desktop. Like, to place the “Computer” icon on Desktop, they just drag and drop it from Start menu, to Desktop.
This is not a good idea to place a Shortcut of the system icon, because if you open the context menu of both items, by right-clicking on them, then you will see different options for both. For instance, first I choose Properties on the actual System Icon of Computer. Now, if I see the Properties for the Shortcut Icon of Computer, then I have a different option window.
You can also add or remove, System Icons on your desktop, through Start Menu. Like, if you right-click on Control Panel, Computer, and User’s Files icons, then you can check or uncheck the “Show on Desktop” option.
If you may have notice, then you can see that, “Network” icon is not available in Start Menu. You can add “Network” icon to the Start Menu, through Start Menu Customization, about which I had describe in my previous chapters. To do this, right-click on the Start Menu, and choose Properties, then click Customize button. Scroll down the list, and make a check mark on “Network” icon. You now have “Network” on Start Menu as well.
So, this is how you can place those System Icons on Desktop. We are going to use those Icons in our next videos.
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