Windows XP Hacks

Make Your Own Cursors and Icons

Don’t settle for the icons and cursors that Microsoft built for you. Roll your own with downloadable software.

If you’re not happy with the cursors and icons that XP ships with, don’t despair. You can easily make your own with Microangelo, from http://www.microangelo.us. It’s shareware and free to try, but if you continue using it, you’re supposed to pay $54.95. You can create animated icons or regular icons—in both the standard 32-pixel and large 48-pixel sizes—and a variety of cursors as well. Use paint-type tools and build your icons and cursors on a grid, as shown in Figure 2-20. A preview is available, so you can see the effects of what you do as you work.

Figure 2-20. Creating an icon with Microangelo

What I find most useful about the program is that you can import existing cursors, icons, or other graphics, edit them, and then save the edited version. I’m no great artist, so I find editing existing graphics much easier than creating ones from scratch. The fine art of pixel placement in tiny icon images can be trickier than expected.

For a big selection of cursors, get CursorXP Free from http://www.windowblinds.net, the same company that makes the interface-customizing program WindowBlinds [Hack #15]. CursorXP Free is free, as the name implies. Install it, and a new CursorXP tab is added to the Mouse Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 2-21 ...