In response to what "Kerr-Mudd,John" <
nots...@invalid.org> wrote :
>> To be precise, he (John Kerr-Mudd) probably didn't *add* icons, but
>> *replaced* whatever icon there were with more appropriate ones [1].
>
> Yes; they were dull default ones (ain't no icons in shutdown.exe)
Hi Kerr-Mudd, John,
I appreciate that you noticed there are a handful of highly non-intuitive
(& yet extremely useful) tricks on those few threads I referenced for you.
<
https://i.postimg.cc/vHc2THz3/icon01.jpg>
Hence, I thank you for letting me know you profited from being able to
change your {batch, shortcut, & target} icons to existing icons, e.g.,
o %SystemRoot%\System32\SHELL32.dll
Those who customize Windows with the following will _instantly_ perceive
the value of being able to set custom icons for the following types:
o BATCH (e.g., foo.bat, or foo.exe commands)
o SHORTCUT (e.g., foo.lnk whose TARGET points to batch or executable files)
o TARGET (e.g., foo.lnk whose TARGET runs a command sequence or cascade)
*BATCH:* (also includes EXECUTABLE files you create)
Given all these batch files default to the same two-gears icon, it behooves
those of us who write msdos batch scripts to differentiate the zillions of
*.bat batch files with _different_ differentiating icons... for example:
a. A batch file to open a red admin window might have a red-terminal icon
b. While a killswitch batch file to kill the gateway may be a big red X
c. And a reboot batch file might have a circular icon in other bold colors
*SHORTCUT*
In addition, when we create shortcuts to those batch files, we'd like to
have similar distinctive icons for each of those *.lnk shortcuts.
a. A shortcut to the open-as-admin red window would have a red term icon
b. A shortcut to the killswitch batch file migh have a big red X icon
c. A shortcut to the reboot batch file might have a bold circular icon
*TARGET*
Furthermore, many commands are called directly from the TARGET of a *.lnk
shortcut, such as these common everyday examples in use daily:
a. TARGET: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe /r /f /t 5 /c "Reboot in 5s!"
b. TARGET: %comspec% /c VeraCrypt /volume F.hc /letter F /auto /quit /explore & VeraCrypt /volume G.hc /letter G /auto /quit /explore
c. TARGET: VeraCrypt /dismount /force
Without changing the individual, these zillions of user-defined
{batch, shortcut, & target} commands all blend together with the same default icon.
We spent a lot of effort in those links to _find_ hundreds of readily-available
icons in Windows 10 to choose from.
The fact you were able to leverage that information makes the effort to gather
the details in that one post all worthwhile, as the goal _always_, is to
increase the tribal knowledge for all of us.
The three non-obvious "tricks" to setting icons for {batch, shortcut, & target}
commands are described in those referenced tutorials, namely:
a. The non-intuitive trick 1 to change the icons of *.bat files
b. The non-intuitive trick 2 to find _all_ known default Windows icons
c. The non-intuitive trick 3 to create your own custom icons using freeware
As you may have noted, that half-dozen set of references contained a handful of
highly useful and yet inherently non-intuitive useful tricks.
TRICK 4:
In addition, it's not intuitive how to _combine_ %comspec% commands in a single
TARGET line (but once you know the trick I learned on the a.m.b group, you'll be
able to create tons of combined TARGET-line commands, each of which you'll
likely want to set a unique icon to).
TRICK 5:
Plus, it's not intuitive to most people how to create an instinctive
o "*Start > Run*" command (and keyboard combo)
to any or all of the zillions commands above that you've created, where that
useful "start > run" trick was also outlined in the references.
TRICK 6:
It's not even obvious (if you don't know the trick) how to pin a batch file
to the taskbar, if you don't know the simple but non-intuitive tricks in those
half dozen reference tutorials I pointed you.
TRICK 7:
Certainly it's not obvious to some people that the Windows XP style
(accordion-style, cascade-style) menus not only never left Windows 10,
but they're native in Windows 10, and, get this ... the EXACT copy of the
Windows XP menu works _perfectly_ on Windows 10 - bit for bit - exactly!
In short, that handful of references you liked contained _tons_ of useful
non-intuitive tricks that I've learned from others over the decades; hence,
I openly appreciate you recognized the inherent value they contained.
o *Over 250 Start > Run commands (please improve this Start Run commands list)*
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/cc1lGn3ty0E/DH_FxVCjAAAJ>
o *What syntax combines 2 commands into a single shortcut TARGET line?*
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.msdos.batch/azQbz6D_v0Y/zwvOqeCmEAAJ>
o *What useful Windows shortcuts would you like to share with users?*
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/80ZHKKFom0c/RN3V0Av6BQAJ>
o *Tutorial for setting up a well-organized consistent efficient Windows menu system*
<
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/eWU-jOkFRtU/lkVU8yolBQAJ>
--
Each thread to Usenet should strive to add value to our tribal knowledge.