From any Explorer window, select View, Folder Options, and click the File Types tab. Select a type in the Registered File Types list--in this case, Text Document--click Edit, and in the Edit File Type dialog box, click Change Icon. (If this command is grayed out, you can't change the icon for this type.) Pick a new icon (or click Browse and find one you like, then click Open), then click OK. Click Close twice.

In our next tip, we'll show you how to always recognize a file type, even if the icon doesn't help much.