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, ...
App and file icons are visual distractions that draw attention away from the task at hand. Desktop icons and taskbars invite ...
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.