Replacing a few of the standard Windows and application icons can be a great way to give your PC a fresh new look. Creating new icons can be more of a challenge, though, as the ICO format isn’t widely supported by graphics software.

There is an easy solution to this problem, though, and it’s called Quick Any2Ico. Point this compact free program at an image or executable file and it’ll convert or extract the required icon for you with a click.

There’s no installation here, no adware or other hassles – just download the 483KB executable and launch it. Everything you need is displayed in a single straightforward dialog box, and you’ll immediately know what to do.

The interface is straightforward, with all your options presented on a single screen

The first step is to point the program at your source file. There’s support for multiple image formats (JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, WMF, EMF, TIFF), or you can extract the icon you need from an EXE or DLL file. Just drag and drop whatever you’re using onto the source box.

Unlike some similar tools, Quick Any2Ico can produce a final ICO file containing multiple versions of your icon, each at a different resolution. All you have to do is check the box next to the icon size you need: 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 64×64, 96×96, 128×128, 256×256 and 512×512. (If you’re not sure and don’t care about file size then we’d just select them all).

When you’re happy, choose a destination file, click Convert, and your icon will be created right away.

None of this is exactly sophisticated, of course. And if you need full control of the icon creation process then you’ll be better off elsewhere (building multi-resolution icons is just one of the things you can do with GIMP, for instance).

Quick Any2Ico is small, simple and easy-to-use, though, and if you only need to create icons occasionally then it’ll probably be a very good choice.