Change Folder Icons in Windows XP with Folder Marker

Changing the colors of my folders I thought would look nice in my PC; what I didn’t realize was that it would speed up my work. With customized folder icons, I can quickly pinpoint the specific folder I want to open.

With so many folders colored yellow in my PC, sometimes searching for a particular folder is like searching a needle in a haystack. One way to change the folder icon is to right-click the folder and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click the Customize tab and click the Change Icon button. A Change Icon dialog box opens and select from the list of icons or you can browse to the folder where your icons are saved. Take note that only icons with .ico extensions can be used.

I have these icons with .gif extensions and what I did was to convert them to .ico using GIMP.

Another way of changing the folder icon is to simply change its color. With this method I use a free software called Folder Marker. Folder Marker is a helper which can mark folders by priority (high, normal, low), by degree of work complete (done, half-done, planned) and by the type of information contained in the folder (work files, important files, temp files, private files). When installed, you can customize or colorize—if this is the right term—your folders by right-clicking a folder and choosing Folder Marker among the options.