System Icons - Who still changes them?

I am a big fan of Icon customization. However, in Windows 11 it has become increasingly more difficult. I typically change every icon I can to a custom icon. I use the built-in Windows Properties dialog to change what I can, and I use Nirsoft FileTypesMan which allows changing application icons by extension. 

Where I have issues are Windows Apps, Notepad for example, which don't offer a clean way to change the icon. I can use custom icons for Windows Apps in the Start11 menu, context menus using the Registry settings, but not the taskbar. Also, if Windows Photos is the default image application, you can't assign different icons to file types by their extension. I use thumbnails for document and image icons, so that is not really an issue for me. An interesting note here is that if a .txt or .rtf file is in a OneDrive folder, it will show a thumbnail on the icon. However, if it is in a local only folder, they will only show an icon.

Another annoying issue is that a lot of application icons revert to the default when the app is updated, and the icon has to be changed again.

I also insert shortcuts with custom icons into the system folders for apps I want to display custom icons on the taskbar.
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs, and
C:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

I used IconPackager with Windows 10 and really liked it, but I have been hesitant to use it with Windows 11 for fear of creating an issue with the Icon Cache. I don't want to have to rebuild it and then assign all my custom icons again.

Hope this information is helpful for you.

Great info, thank You!

I still use Iconpackager on Win 11.

I can change individual Icons as needed.

I make full use of Nexus Ultimate Dock getting Icons from the Icon Directory here at WinCustomize.

I still love changing icons often.

"consistent feeling" is something I avoid. 

Good heads up Jeff T. i will have to try it, i like a consistent feel to my skins.😊

I use Winstep for my start menu and docks. I have 20 different themed sets I use for those. The sets are mostly colors, but some are themes like teddy bears, and, well, you know... weed. Each set contains about 250 shortcuts. I have a folder I call "Start in use". All of my start menu items, and dock items are linked to that folder. When I want to change to a different color on my desktop, I replace the contents of that folder with the set I want to change to. I miss the old theme manager programs where you could set up a theme and use it again with one click.

So basically, I use my own kind of a manual method to change desktop stuff, and I use icon packager to change system icons. If I'm changing just a single icon, I use the old school properties method, which I hate. I tried Icon Swapper a few months ago but it took even longer than going through properties. I use Icon Developer and Icon FX for recoloring and editing.

My system works pretty good for me, but when I need to make a change, I have to make it to 20 different sets, but that's the nature of having 20 sets. I could probably delete half of those and never miss them, but I don't. I think it's somehow related to my icon hoarding disorder. I actually have a folder named "deleted icons" on my PC that contains about 2500 icons that I cant bring myself to delete.

I was doing real good at not downloading any new ones until SOMEONE posted the most bad a** sets I've ever seen a couple of weeks ago. And a Skinny Puppy fan at that! I used to have one of their CD's back in the day, and also Ogre's book. It was the first time I ever heard of barb wire being a clothing option.