You can change nearly any desktop icon on both Mac and PC. To change desktop icons on a Mac, open the "Get Info" menu and paste in the picture you want to use. On a PC you'll need to make a .ICO file, ...

Creating shortcuts for frequently used programs and files can save time and reduce clutter on your desktop. Instead of having all items directly on the screen, place them in folders or use shortcut ...

While we all love to keep icons and files on the Desktop for quick access, it results in too much clutter. As Windows changed, it allowed you to hide the desktop icons, so everything looked cleaner.