If Icon Do It, So Can You
Icons in the Task Bar have always been helpful in providing visual cues to let users know what programs are running and they're even more important with Windows 7 because of the ability to pin applications to the task bar. Unlike in previous versions of Windows, there is no Quick Launch area, but pinning an icon has advantages that go beyond providing a one-click option for starting an application: Because the icon is pinned to the Task Bar, it stays in one location. But sometimes two applications have distressingly similar icons. Do you ever wish you could change them? Well, you can.
Click any of the smaller images for a full-size view.
At the right is an example of what my Task Bar looks like. Because I want to have quick access to a lot of applications, because the Tray (or Notification Area) is always full, and because I like to have the day and date visible in the Tray, I use a double-decker Task Bar. This is not the Windows 7 default. If you expand the image, you'll see that the Task Bar contains 3 similar icons. One starts Apple's Safari browser, another starts the Timeslips time billing application, and a third starts the Windows Resource Monitor.
The process I'll describe for changing the icons is for Windows 7, but it will work for earlier versions of the operating system and the file names I'll mention are the same. Some of the steps will vary slightly in appearance and the earlier versions of Windows won't ask you to confirm some of the steps.
Before you can change the icon, you need to know where to find a new icon. That's easy. Your computer already has dozens of them tucked away. Program files (exe) and library files (dll) often contain icons and Windows includes several special files that are packed with icons: Depending on your version of Windows, files with icon collections will include cool.dll, moricons.dll, and shell32.dll. You'll find these files on the boot drive (usually drive C) in one of these directories: \Windows, \Windows\System, or \Windows\System32.
It's important to note that Windows 7 users cannot simply change the icon that has been pinned to the Task Bar. I tried that first and the option is not presented. Instead, you need to find the application in the Start Menu, right-click it, and choose Properties.
The Properties dialog has more tabs than you're used to seeing in previous versions of Windows and the dialog shown here also has a Carbonite tab. You will see this on your computer only if you are a Carbonite user.
Look for the Change Icon button on the Shortcut tab.
When you click the Change Icon tab, a dialog will display one or more icons that are contained in the program file. In this case, it's just one. If the application includes several icons, changing it may be as simple as selecting one you like and clicking OK.
But I'll have to browse for an icon by clicking the Browse button.
This opens an Explorer window. Here I've browsed to C:\Windows\System32\, which contains moricons.dll.
Double-click the file to open the list of available icons.
This file is an antique that dates back at least to Windows 3.1, but I knew that it contained a large red icon with a dollar sign. That seemed to be a good choice for a time-billing application, so I selected it and clicked OK.
Vista and Windows 7 users will probably need to approve the operation. If you have an earlier version of Windows, you won't see this dialog box.
Click Continue and then click OK to close the Properties dialog.
You might now expect the icon to have changed on the Task Bar, but that expectation would be dashed on the rocky shores of the Redmond coast.
To change the icon on the Task Bar, you first need to remove the icon from the Task Bar and then pin it to the Task Bar.
So, right-click the icon on the Task Bar and choose Unpin this program from the taskbar.
Now you can return to the Start Menu, right-click the icon, and choose Pin to Taskbar. For reasons known only in Redmond, "Taskbar" is now one word and capitalized in this dialog while it was "taskbar" in the previous dialog.
The icon will appear in the last available position in the Task Bar and you may now click and drag it if you want to reposition it.
Here it is in the final location.
Changing the icon for Safari (Apple's browser) turned out to be a bit more challenging. "Challenging" is a word that is often applied to Apple software on Windows computers.
The Change Icon button was grayed, so I couldn't click it.
Note: The following steps turned out to be unnecessary, but I didn't discover that until later. The action is unavailable here because Apple marks the Safari directory as read only. Had I changed that, I would have been able to change the icon in the normal way.
I've decided to keep this process because it illustrates another way to change an icon.
I navigated to the Safari program directory, right-clicked the program file, dragged it to the Desktop, and created a link there. Because I had created this link, I would be able to edit its properties.
The next several steps were the same as before. I right-clicked the icon, selected properties, clicked the Change Icon button, and went off in search of a file with icons.
This time I selected shell32.dll, where I found a tree.
On a safari, one would expect to see trees, so that's what I selected. It's not really a very good choice, but I won't be keeping it on the Task Bar for very long because the Windows version of Safari just isn't very good. Safari performs well on Macs.
Next, I unpinned Safari from the Task Bar ...
... and deleted the Safari link from the Start Menu
To complete the process, I dragged the new shortcut from the Desktop to the
Start Menu and dropped it there. This moved the file from the Desktop to the Start Menu's directory structure.
And finally I pinned the new Safari shortcut to the Task Bar.
Now my Task Bar has distinct visual cues for three applications that previously were all too similar.
If the built-in icons are insufficient for you, or you want some unique icons, a Google search will turn up applications that allow you to make your own icons. You'll also find collections of icons, some free and some not. Two of my favorite sources of free icons are:
Be Careful What You Click
Some search results lead to toxic sites. In the week before the latest Twilight movie opened, searches sometimes turned up links to rogue sites, sites that make every effort to take over your computer. This threat is aimed at fans of the new movie, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The same kind of fraud can be perpetrated on fan of anything else, so this is important even if you've never heard of The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
PC Tools sent out a warning that explained the problem. When users searched for Stephenie Meyer they would encounter a search result that read Stephenie Meyer at 365Multimedia.com. But instead of seeing a legitimate interview, fans would be told their computer was infected with malware and be tricked into giving their credit card information to download fake Anti-Malware software.
Then PC Tools discovered another online Twilight scam, promising viewers they can watch the New Moon movie before it appeared in theaters. Instead, it infected their computers.
Heres how it works:
- Fans are baited with the text websites, chatrooms and blogs that say Watch New Moon Full Movie. Concurrently, comment posts are filled with related keywords to attract more search engines.
- Search results for the movie then link users to stolen images from the movie itself, convincing the fan that the movie is only one click away.
- When they click on the movie player they are told to install a "streamviewer".
- The streamviewer installs malware on the users computer. At the right is an example provided by PC Tools.
These kinds of threats are increasingly common and it's important for you to be aware that simply clicking an enticing link can have serious consequences. In particular, if you're encouraged to click a link to view a movie that's not yet in theaters or to download stolen software, beware.
Even the US Postal Service Has Spam
I received a post card from "Express Package Delivery" of Tyler, Texas. The company paid to print the card and paid 28 cents postage to send it to me. It was an obvious fraud.
"PICKUP NOTICE" the card said, and "SORRY WE MISSED YOU!!!" Like I'm supposed to believe that a delivery or pick-up service missed me and then sent a post card to advise me of that fact.
They tell me that they want to pick up a package (I have no waiting packages) and that I should "call to schedule pickup" (but only between the hours of 9am and 6pm Monday through Friday).
Try performing a Google search using the terms "Express Package Delivery" and "Tyler, Texas" to see what the scam is. It seems that they want to offer me a "free" "vacation". An on-line service named "Who Calls Me?" offers some additional information on the phone number.
If you want "my" "free" "vacation", feel free to call (888) 4-PAK-DEL (or 903-839-1500) and use "my" package number: 1107-5590-1160.
Are there really people so dumb that they fall for something so transparently bogus?
Slight Variation on an Old Trojan Theme
As with most Trojan horse attacks, this one attempted to convince me to open an e-mail attachment and run it. But instead of offering me a movie file or music, this one claimed to be from a financial clearing house. It was confirming my payment ($3654.38) to a company I had never heard of. If I wanted to decline the charge, it said, I should open the attached file and run it. For starters, no clearing house would ever do business like this, so it was clearly an attack. But there were lots of other clues, too.
For one thing, there were 4 messages and they had all be quarantined.
I have a special mailbox that has no anti-spam measures in front of it. As a result, all messages get through to this box and about 95% of the messages that arrive here are spam or worse.
Four quarantined messages received over a 4-day period, each claiming a payment for a different company. Suspicious?
This one indicated a charge of $54.22 for Ashland, Inc. It's a relatively small amount compared to some of the others. Are people more likely to think about contesting small amounts because they think the charge may be real?
Or are they more likely to respond if the amount is large and frightening ($9219.52) and for a company they've never heard of (Zapata)?
"Zapata Incorporated is a full service environmental, facilities, infrastructure, and military munitions response firm."
Here's one for $28.87 from Biomet.
And finally, I'm told that a $3654.38 payment is being processed for Precision Castparts Corporation.
Note that each of the messages has the same hook: If this is your charge, ignore the message; but if you want to contest the charge, you must open and run the file in the attached zip.
If you have an up-to-date antivirus application in place, trying to save or open the file will generate an alarm and, without jumping through several hoops, you will be protected from the bad stuff inside.
But you can't count on this. My plan, had I been able to save the file, was to examine it first in a text editor to confirm that it really is a zip file. Then I would have moved the file either to a Mac or a Linux machine for further investigation.
The proper response to a challenge such as this is the judicious use of the Delete key.
Problem solved.
Short Circuits
Just in Time for the Holidays: Techno Shopping Help
Looking for just the right digital point-and-shoot camera or SLR? How about the HDTV that suits you best? Or a netbook computer? A new website may have the answer for you.
Measy.com will ask you a lot of questions. For a digital SLR, it will want to know how much you'd like to spend, how you'll use the camera, what's important to you, whether you want the camera to come with a lens, and a lot more. I took the quiz and found that the result was in the ballpark. The result wasn't the brand of camera I typically use, but if I didn't have cameras and lenses from another manufacturer and if I was in the market for a camera, it would have been a good choice.
When the site displays results, it will explain why it ranked the results in the order it did. Although I'm not in the market for a netbook computer, I tried the quiz for that and the results were good.
How does Measy make money? By providing links to retailers who sell the articles you're looking for.
The site will probably expand over time, but the developers have selected the 4 most popular technology items—ones that will entice visitors. And they've done their homework so the results are appropriate.
Incredible Shrinking AOL Continues to Shrink
Remember when AOL was so powerful that its merger with Time Inc. was essentially an acquisition of Time Inc? Since then, things have changed a lot. Most former AOL users have concluded that there are better ways to connect to the Internet and now Time Warner says that it plans to spin off AOL on December 9.
AOL says it will then drop about one third of its work force. The company currently employees just under 7000 people and will offer additional severance pay and benefits to those who leave by the end of the year. The company warns, though, that if not enough people accept the offer, there will be lay-offs.
AOL's revenues have dropped 20% in the previous year, mainly because advertising revenue fell sharply.
The author's image: It's that photo over at the right. This explains why TechByter Worldwide was never on television, doesn't it?
