ActivIcons makes it simple to change properties for various icons on your Windows desktop and in Explorer, plus attributes for many other desktop settings. You can save and restore the desktop layout, repair corrupted icons, increase the size of the Windows icon cache to prevent future problems, and much more.

You can substitute your own icons for the standard Windows icons and cursors. In fact, ActivIcons goes through your Registry and lists out all of the icons found there, so that you can change those as well. You can even use ActivIcons to display animated icons on your desktop, or make the icon text labels transparent.

ActivIcons allows you to:

switch your own, custom icons for Network Neighborhood, My Computer, and other icons which Windows places on your desktop and Explorer file manager;
quickly change the default Windows mouse cursors;
make the icon text labels transparent;
change the color of the text below the icons;
change the "Start" button graphic and text;
hide the "Start" button;
rebuild the Windows icon cache;
increase the size of the system icon cache;
replace various drive and folder icons (both the default icons and individual drive and folder icons*);
remove shortcut symbols;
use animated icons on the desktop;
hide all desktop icons;
change "Favorites" icons;
save and restore your desktop's icon layout;
replace Internet Explorer and Outlook Express's animated logos;
change Windows startup and shutdown screens (backs up the originals);