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Resolved How save shortcut icon for further use

Discussion in 'Internet Explorer & Microsoft Edge' started by robls99, 2012/04/21.

  1. 2012/04/21
    robls99 Lifetime Subscription

    robls99 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    How can I save a particular desktop shortcut icon in IE8 so I can use it on another shortcut icon to a different site?

    I know how to "reuse" it once it is saved in a file but don't know how to save it to a file to start the process?
     
    robls99,
    #1
  2. 2012/04/24
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Drag the icon from the address bar to the Desktop or any other folder.
     
    TonyT,
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  4. 2012/04/24
    robls99 Lifetime Subscription

    robls99 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    TonyT,

    Thanks but it is more involved:

    I switched to FireFox as my default browser vs IE but some sites don't like FF.

    I learned that if I set up a shortcut like this:

    "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" ft.com

    and change the "Start In" to:
    "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer "

    it will use IE to open that particular site instead of FF.

    Unfortunately, even tho the shortcut works like I want, it shows the default icon as the standard default IE icon.

    Dragging the icon from the just opened IE site as you suggest just gets you a shortcut which opens in the default browser of FF. Dragging the icon to a file doesn't allow me to use the icon as a "Change Icon" feature.

    I was hoping to find out how to actually save the icon in my icon file (as a .icon file) and then I could convert any shortcut using the Change Icon feature.
     
    Last edited: 2012/04/24
    robls99,
    #3
  5. 2012/04/24
    Miz

    Miz Inactive Alumni

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    The icons you're wanting to manipulate are called "favicons. "

    Rather than making the choice for you by posting some links, use the search engine of your choice to look for "save favicons." There are quite a few pages with instructions and some have tools to do the work for you.

    That way, you can choose the method that works the best for you.
     
    Miz,
    #4
  6. 2012/04/25
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    After you create the shortcut using the method: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" ft.com, right click the shortcut and select Properties. Use the Change icon button and change the icon to anything you want.

    The icon used for the site will be stored in your IE Temporary Internet Files folder if you've already viewed the site.

    You can also download the icon by going to the site and viewing the source code of the page.

    example:

    1. go to ft.com
    2. in IE, rt click a blank spot on the page and select View Source.
    3. near the top of the code will be a line like this:
    Code:
    <link rel= "shortcut icon" href= "http://im.media.ft.com/m/icons/favicon.ico" type= "image/x-icon" />
    4. copy+paste the icon url into the address bar, press the Enter key and the page will load the image.
    5. Save the icon to a dir on your computer and name it as you like.
    6. when using the Change icon button as described above, browse to your saved icon.
     
    TonyT,
    #5
  7. 2012/04/28
    robls99 Lifetime Subscription

    robls99 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    TonyT,

    Wow, pretty slick!!
    It worked perfect on one site I tried.

    But when I tried View Source on pandora.com I didn't get a URL, I just got this:

    <link rel= "shortcut icon" href= "/favicon.ico" type= "image/x-icon" />
    <link rel= "icon" type= "image/ico" href= "/favicon.ico" />

    On another site, I just got this;

    <link rel= "shortcut icon" href= "/favicon.ico" type= "image/ico ">


    Any suggestion?
     
    robls99,
    #6
  8. 2012/04/28
    robls99 Lifetime Subscription

    robls99 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    TonyT,

    NEVER MIND!

    I found the favicon.ico I needed in the Temporary Internet file per your suggestion.

    The full path name for the folder was;

    C:\Documents and Settings\Rob (or whatever identity you are using)\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
    Files

    It was a huge file. I did an alpha and then scanned all the favicon.ico files unde "F" of course until I found the correct icon.

    I then did a right click and Copy/Paste to my custom icon file and finally did a right click Properties > Change Icon on the new shortcut.

    Tony, Fantastic - a great find!!

    Have a good one,

    Rob
     
    Last edited: 2012/04/28
    robls99,
    #7
  9. 2012/04/30
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    re: favicons

    Favicons are .ico (icon) files and exclusive to Internet Explorer. Other browsers had begun to support favicons and today, all modern browsers support favicons as well as .png (Portable Network Graphics) image files.

    There are advantages to using one or the other. For example, IE 6 does not support png as a favicon, and that browser is still in use. Thus, Web developers are still using favicions (ico) for the shortcut icon so as to be backward compatable with older browsers.

    Note, png cannot be used as a shortcut icon in a Windows folder. Other operating systems support multiple image formats for shortcuts.
     
    TonyT,
    #8
  10. 2012/04/30
    robls99 Lifetime Subscription

    robls99 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    ok, thanks for the addl info.
     
    robls99,
    #9

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