- Windows 11 nonetheless has historical icons buried deep inside
- They’re languishing in obscure system recordsdata
- A Microsoft weblog submit highlighted a group from the Windows 95 period in a DLL file
If you thought the legacy bits of the Control Panel that also exist in Windows 11 from computing ages previous had been dangerous – and, frankly, they’re jarring – there are additionally some ridiculously previous icons nonetheless alive someplace within the depths of the fashionable working system.
PC Gamer stories that Microsoft coder and blogger Raymond Chen just lately wrote a submit about some historical icons – simply 32 x 32 pixels in measurement, in 16 colours – from the Windows 95 period, that are tied to a sure DLL system file.
Chen explains: “The pifmgr.dll file was added in Windows 95. Its job was, because the identify would possibly counsel, to handle PIF recordsdata, that are Program Information Files that describe arrange a digital MS-DOS session for operating a particular utility.”
So how do icons determine on this DLL, then? Chen elaborates: “The icons in pifmgr.dll … had been only a enjoyable mixture of icons for folks to make use of for their very own selfmade shortcut recordsdata.”
In different phrases, these had been customized shortcut icons you could possibly use while you ran an MS-DOS program in Windows, because it would not have an icon (as a result of it wasn’t coded for Windows) – so you could possibly decide your personal from these (and different) choices.
How to make use of these traditional Windows 95 icons
Old Windows 95 icons proven on a Windows 11 desktop.
It’s fairly cool to see these relics unearthed, and in the event you’re feeling significantly nostalgic, you’ll be able to even have these in your Windows 11 desktop. Here’s how one can change an current icon to considered one of these retro affairs.
Right-click on the shortcut for the icon you need to change in your desktop and choose Properties, and in that panel, click on on the Shortcut tab.
Now click on the Change Icon button, and within the field on the high the place it says ‘Look for icons on this file’ it is advisable put within the location of the pifmgr.dll in Windows 11 (the System32 folder). So, delete the present shortcut contents of the field, and substitute it with the next:
%SystemRootpercentSystem32pifmgr.dll
Now click on on the OK button and you will see the array of historical icons displayed. You can simply marvel at them right here, and depart it at that, or substitute the present icon in your desktop with considered one of these classics just by choosing the one you need to substitute and clicking OK, then click on OK once more while you’re again on the Properties panel. You could obtain an ‘Access Denied’ message when attempting to modify the icon, and if that’s the case, simply click on Continue – and also you’re finished.
There are different DLL recordsdata that comprise numerous system icons from all through the various incarnations of Windows, too, as outlined on this submit on the Windows Eleven Forum. That contains imageres.dll and likewise moricons.dll (Chen mentions the latter), and to peruse these, simply change the DLL identify within the above file location – akin to %systemrootpercentsystem32imageres.dll – and glad fossilized icon looking!
