i don't know where to post this and i probably sound like an idiot but i'm new to apple. how do you change your desktop icons and get rid of the background on your dock and all that? any help would be appreciated and again i'm sorry if i posted this in the wrong area.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
changing desktop icons?
- Thread starter fiveagain
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Nobody is an idiot for asking questions. If you don't know something about your Mac that you would like to know, you are smart to ask.
The best forum for this question is the "Software Discussion and Help" forum, so your thread was moved there.
A see-through dock is not a standard feature provided by Apple, but an $8 shareware program called TransparentDock is one way to arrange it.
What do you mean by "change your desktop icons"? Change them in what way?
The best forum for this question is the "Software Discussion and Help" forum, so your thread was moved there.
A see-through dock is not a standard feature provided by Apple, but an $8 shareware program called TransparentDock is one way to arrange it.
What do you mean by "change your desktop icons"? Change them in what way?
Doctor Q said:
change what they look like. i see all these desktops with iMacs and such as their Macintosh HD icon. mine is still the normal harddrive icon.
i also see people with different pictures behind the camera in the iPhoto icon.
I do not know the normal way how too... but the way i do it is simplyfiveagain said:
1.) Click the hard drive icon you want to change and ctrl-click-get info.
2.) find a picture you want and do the same.
3.) copy the picture that you want (highlight the thumbnail and press apple-C)
4.) highlight the hard drive thumbnail - and paste it.
that is my way of doing it. If you are confused i will post screen shots.
kyle
I don't want to eat up bandwith, so i linked the pictures....fiveagain said:
first have the picture you want - and the target icon Then copy the desired icon pic - and highlight the target icon finally - paste it.
kyle
One last thing. If you want to change a TON of icons..... Like every App you have, i suggest this program. CandyBar It is free ( i think) and it allows you to drag icons over to replace just about every icon on your Mac. You know the Finder smily face? or the Trash can? if you want to change those - Use that program.fiveagain said:
sorry for so many posts.
kyle
A free way to get a transparent dock is ClearDock, by unsanity. It requires that you use Application Enhancer.
Email me the picture and if you really want - it would take some Photoshop work, but i could try.fiveagain said:
Here's a way you could do it yourself, step by step, using only software that comes with your Mac:fiveagain said:
1. Pick any photo that's on your computer.
2. Import it into iPhoto, if it's not already there.
3. In Organize mode, double-click the photo to see it in Edit mode.
4. Choose "Square" in the Constrain drop-down list at the bottom left of the window.
5. Drag a selection to select the portion of the image you would like to use as an icon. (The selection will be automatically kept square.)
6. Click the "Crop" button at the bottom of the window.
7. Select menu choice File->Export.
8. In the "File Export" pane (tab), under "Size", choose "Scale images no larger than" and specify size 256 x 256.
9. Click the "Export" button and name the file myicon.jpg. Save it on the desktop.
10. If you don't want the copy of the photo in iPhoto to stay cropped, select menu choice Edit->Undo Crop Photo.
11. Quit iPhoto.
12. Double-click myicon.jpg on the desktop to open it in Preview.
13. Select menu choice Edit->Copy.
14. Quit Preview.
15. Select (single-click, not double-click) iPhoto in the Applications folder and select menu choice File->Get Info.
16. Make sure the triangle next to "General" points down, so you can see the iPhoto icon. (Don't confuse the large icon in the "Preview" section with the small icon in the "General" section; we only care about the small icon in the "General" section.)
17. Click once on the small icon in the "General" section to select it.
18. Select menu choice Edit->Paste. This should change the icon to your photo. (Don't worry that the bigger icon in the "Preview" section won't change automatically.)
19. Close the "info" window.
20. Your iPhoto icon should now be the photo you wanted.
21. If you have iPhoto in the Dock, drag its icon out of the dock to the desktop. It will go "poof". Then drag your new iPhoto icon from the Applications folder into the dock.
22. Delete file "myicon.jpg" from the desktop.
If you change your mind and want the old iPhoto icon back:
1. Select (single-click, not double-click) iPhoto in the Applications folder and select menu choice File->Get Info.
2. Make sure the triangle next to "General" points down, so you can see the iPhoto icon.
3. Click once on the small icon in the "General" section to select it.
4. Select menu choice Edit->Cut. This should change the icon back to its original version.
5. Close the "info" window.
6. If you have iPhoto in the Dock, drag its icon out of the dock to the desktop. It will go "poof". Then drag the iPhoto icon from the Applications folder into the dock.
