JSI Tip 6327. When you personalize your Windows XP desktop icons, the change is NOT stored in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT?

Windows XP allows you to personalize the look and feel of your desktop by changing the font, size, and colors of individual Window elements such as menus, icons, and title bars.

The icon changes are NOT stored in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hive, an alias for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes. Since they are user based, they are stored at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID.

NOTE: If Windows XP does NOT find the icon for a class, it then looks in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.