It's shockingly easy to create your own icons using Windows XP... Let's do it!

 

Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Paint

 

On the Image menu, click Attributes

 

Type 32 for both the Width and Height of the document, and make sure that Pixels is selected under Units

 

Click OK to create a new 32x32-pixel document: the size of an icon

 

Now add type, color, or do whatever you'd like to your image.

 

I like to shrink photos (headshots work great) to 32x32 and simply paste them into my Paint document.

 

When you're finished, open the File menu and click Save As.

 

Use the dialog box to choose where you want to save your file, then give it a name followed by ".ico" and click Save.

 

You just created an icon! Now you can change any shortcut or folder to your own icon!

 

Now you just right click on any icon, click Properties, select change icon.

 

Select browse and follow the path you set to your newly created masterpiece