Here's our Windows 95/98 Tip for.. April 28, 1997
Click Here to see a complete list of all of our previously released Tips!
Lose that ugly Recycle Bin icon
Run REGEDIT and from the menu bar choose Edit|Find, enter Recycle Bin in the Find What box, then click Find Next. The Recycle Bin should show up in the right pane. Right-click on a blank spot in the left pane to reveal which Key contains the Recycle Bin information; it will be a long alphanumeric string. Once found, click the little [+] next to it to show the subkey named "DefaultIcon." Double-click Default Icon to show the icon path information in the right pane. Double-click the Name data of your choice, and edit it as you normally would. Remember, icon library files (such as C:\Windows\System\Shell32.dll) start counting at zero, so if you want to use just a single .ICO file, enter its path followed by a comma and a zero, as in C:\Windows\Trashcan.ico,0.

Changing the icon for My Computer works exactly the same way. Run a Find for My Computer (or whatever you've renamed it) and follow the procedure outlined above.

WARNING!! This is a REGISTRY HACK! And as such, you MUST FIRST make a backup of your Registry so that you can recover from any mistakes you might make. The Registry is a very unforgiving place if you don't know EXACTLY what you are doing. An incorrect Registry entry can render your entire system INOPERABLE. DO NOT attempt to change Registry settings without a Backup. Don't say we didn't warn you...

The Configuration Backup Utility is one of the CD-Extras, so if you don't have the CD-ROM version of Windows 95, CLICK HERE to download it now.