Every once in a while a specialized software programs comes along that is almost perfect for the use for which it was intended. ILCO is one of these programs and the best part is that not only is it a good program but it is a free one. If you are into creating icons for your computer or modifying existing ones, ILCO is the software for you.

ILCO has many features available. While it doesn't contain the more exotic ones, it does have just about everything that the average person would need to create and modify icons without too much trouble. The program contains six drop down menus with different features and an interface with a couple of tool bars and a small bar that direct how your tool will draw pixels. A color gradient, where you can choose your colors from for drawing, appears to the left of work area. To the left of the work area are two view of your work in progress. Transparency is automatic unless you use a color that is not transparent.

Here are the menus: (Keyboard shortcuts are available for some of the commands)

File Menu: This contains the usual features found in most file menus. New, Open, Save, Saveas, Import and Exit. Import has three sub menus, they are: From File, From Clipboard and Screen Capture.

Edit Menu: Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear and Select All. The Undo and Redo commands seem to be almost unlimited allowing you to go way back in the drawing or way forward.

Palette Menu: Load, Save and Predefined. Predefined has a sub menu with five commands. They are Halftone 216, Grayscale, Spectrum, Windows XP and Optimal The palette can contain up to 16 million colors. Optimal is only available in True and ARGB color icons. The default palette is Spectrum and displays a nice choice of colors.

Canvas Menu: Screen Color, Pixel Grid and Antialias. Screen color does not effect the finished icon. It is just a convenience while drawing. The Pixel Grid is a grid that can be turned on or off to assist you in drawing. If you activate Antialias it will soften the edges of lines and is only available on ARGB icons.

Effect Menu: Flip Horizontally, Flip Vertically, Rotate Left, Rotate Right, Alpha, Color, Enhance and Fix Mask. Alpha has three sub menus but they are only available for ARGB Icons. They are Drop Shadow, Blur Shadow, Fade Down and Scanlines. The Color menu is only available for ARGB Icons and contains a sub menu of three items. Colorize A, Grays and Negative. Colorize A attempts to color the image in various shades of the color selected. Grays creates a gray scale icon and Negative will create an icon using the negative of the selected colors. The Enhance menu has a sub menu with three entries. Again this only applies to ARGB icons. The items are Soften, Sharpen and Despeckle. Despeckle removes anomalous specks of darker or lighter colors. Fix Mask is also a ARGB function. It will remove a transparency mask that makes the icon appear incorrectly.

Help Menu: Help Topics, Check for updates and About. Help topics is handy and has the usual search tab along with a small expanding index. You actually don't need much help with this program. You can become an expert in just about 20 minutes.

Top Toolbar: Resource Type, Load, Save, Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Screen Capture.

Middle Toolbar: Add Format (+), Remove Format (-), Screen Color, Drawing Color 1, Drawing Color 2, Selection Frame, Pencil, Straight Line Tool, Paint Brush Tool, Eraser Tool, Shape Tool, Fill Tool, Text Tool, Color Selection Tool and an unknown ghosted tool that I can not seem to find anything in the help file on. It looks like it might be a lasso tool for outlining an object for cutting but who knows. Some of the drawing tools, such as the line tool, brush tool, eraser tool and shape tool allow you to increase the width of the drawing tool or reduce it and also select the type of brush to use which can be solid, or skipping pixels. The range of widths is 1 to 9 pixels. The Shape tool allows you to create hollow or solid rectangles and ellipses. The Add Format selection (+) is where you can choose the color depth and size of your icons. If you want to create an ARGB icon this is where you make your selection. Remove Format (-) undoes what Add Format accomplishes.

ILCO is the only icon editor you will ever need. Sure it would have been nice to know what that last tool was on the tool bar but it doesn't seem to be critical. I have tried every combination of size and color depth I can think of and it is still ghosted.

To download this free gem just click on the link below:

http://www.mintrasystems.com/products/mintra/product.php?p=iico