Scrutico to extract icon images
Awhile back I reviewed PhotoFiltre, a free photo editor from Antonio Da Cruz that is, by the way, available in a simply amazing number of languages. While these apps are not open source, they are free, and that's nice!
The same outfit gives us Scrutico, which scans a directory for icon files, or executable files that contain embedded icons. The program also allows the operator to extract embedded icons as Windows .ico files, which I understand to be, effectively, small and low resolution bitmap (BMP) files.
There are a host of utilities out there to help us create icons, but Scrutico unveils so many icon images that I had no idea were on my computer, that I would hesitate to go to the trouble of creating new icons.
Scrutico does not require installation, does not apparently write anything to the Windows Registry, and can be run from a USB drive. It's downside is that the program's interface is in French. This was not a drawback for me since the little utilities tool bar contained fairly descriptive pictographs, and Scrutico is so simple in operation it's a snap, even in French.
Here is a screen shot of the icon images it found embedded in .EXE files in my c:\windows directory:
Allow me to translate:
Dossier de recherche: "File of research" This would be the directory that Scrutico searches for icon images.
Fichiers: "Files" This is actually one of four different file extensions for files that icon images can reside in - EXE, DLL, ICO and ICL.
Limite, I assume, is the limit beyond which Scrutico will stop looking for icon files.
The
button is the "go" button. It starts Scrutico to work, and the utility works blindingly fast, finding a list of icons embedded in EXE files, as specified.
The
button is what you press when you want to export (extract) the image and turn it into an actual icon (ico) file. Some of them, of course, may already be in this form, in which case the extraction process is really just a file copy operation. Note that this button is grayed out and not usable until you select one or more of the images to export. Hold your Ctrl key down as you click on the images if you want to extract more than one at a time. Then when you do the extraction, and standard explorer window pops up that allows you to direct where you want the newly minted icons to go. Give the icon an expressive name, then click "Save" and your done!
Now, what would I use all these icons for anyway? Right now I can only think of one use - older games that for whatever reason have not been assigned an icon, and come out looking like this on your desktop:
, which is not very inspiring!
Searching the world far and wide for you, I remain....
Mike Moore
PS: Merci Antonio!
The same outfit gives us Scrutico, which scans a directory for icon files, or executable files that contain embedded icons. The program also allows the operator to extract embedded icons as Windows .ico files, which I understand to be, effectively, small and low resolution bitmap (BMP) files.
There are a host of utilities out there to help us create icons, but Scrutico unveils so many icon images that I had no idea were on my computer, that I would hesitate to go to the trouble of creating new icons.
Scrutico does not require installation, does not apparently write anything to the Windows Registry, and can be run from a USB drive. It's downside is that the program's interface is in French. This was not a drawback for me since the little utilities tool bar contained fairly descriptive pictographs, and Scrutico is so simple in operation it's a snap, even in French.
Here is a screen shot of the icon images it found embedded in .EXE files in my c:\windows directory:
Allow me to translate:
Dossier de recherche: "File of research" This would be the directory that Scrutico searches for icon images.
Fichiers: "Files" This is actually one of four different file extensions for files that icon images can reside in - EXE, DLL, ICO and ICL.
Limite, I assume, is the limit beyond which Scrutico will stop looking for icon files.
The
button is the "go" button. It starts Scrutico to work, and the utility works blindingly fast, finding a list of icons embedded in EXE files, as specified.The
button is what you press when you want to export (extract) the image and turn it into an actual icon (ico) file. Some of them, of course, may already be in this form, in which case the extraction process is really just a file copy operation. Note that this button is grayed out and not usable until you select one or more of the images to export. Hold your Ctrl key down as you click on the images if you want to extract more than one at a time. Then when you do the extraction, and standard explorer window pops up that allows you to direct where you want the newly minted icons to go. Give the icon an expressive name, then click "Save" and your done!Now, what would I use all these icons for anyway? Right now I can only think of one use - older games that for whatever reason have not been assigned an icon, and come out looking like this on your desktop:
, which is not very inspiring!Searching the world far and wide for you, I remain....
Mike Moore
PS: Merci Antonio!
posted by Michael Moore @ 6:19 PM
2 Comments:
At 1:29 AM,
TanyaHimanen said…
when i try to extract, or save more than one icon at a time, holding down the does NOT do anything. i can only save one at a time. any idea why or what i may be doing wrong ?
At 8:20 AM,
Michael Moore said…
Yep, you are correct. Holding the control key does not properly select multiple icon for extraction. The application has not been touched since 2004 though, so I doubt if the developer is actively concerned.
Try this one: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.html - maybe it does the job on a larger scale!
-- Mike
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