Microsoft is currently introducing a simplified look to Windows 10, and it includes slowly updating all of the icons we regularly double-click. The latest selection to receive a new look are the system icons found in File Explorer.
Windows Insider Program Lead Amanda Langowski, and self-professed Chief Nerd Brandon LeBlanc, detailed the changes in a Windows Insider blog post. We’ve already seen the Windows Security, Narrator, and Notepad icons change. Now the top-level user folders for Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Pictures have been given a more distinct look. The thinking being, it will be easier to “tell them apart at a glance.”
Arguably more important than top-level user folder icon design tweaks is a change to the Recycle Bin icon. It still looks very much like the Recycle Bin we all know, but the level of detail has clearly been increased, especially when it comes to all the crumpled paper it contains.
For now, the new icons are restricted to the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21343, but they will eventually filter down into the version of Windows 10 installed on all our machines. Other changes of note in this build include improvements to Windows Sandbox and Microsoft Defender Application Guard, the Windows Administrative Tools folder in now simply called “Windows Tools,” and renaming files in File Explorer now support CTRL + Left /Right arrow key presses to quickly move between words in the file name. CTRL + Delete and CTRL + Backspace can also be used to delete words at a time.
