Converting MacOS X format icons to WinXP
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This will be a pretty straight foward read simply because I'm too tired to be witty.

You'll need at minimum 2 programs to convert MacOSX icons to XP format -
Iconshop 1.20 Alpha (or later) - http://users.pandora.be/liontech/
Stuffit Expander (any version) - http://www.stuffit.com


Stuffit Expander Configuration
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After you install stuffit, you'll need to change it's settings so that you will keep the resource fork Mac files (they're split into resource and text forks, and the default option is to chuck the resource fork). Go launch Expander and go to the Options dialog box. Go to the 'Cross Platform' tab and choose the options as follows - 

   - 'Convert text files to Windows format:'
		Never

   - 'Save Macintosh files in MacBinary format:'
		When a file contains a resource fork

   - 'Modification of the file extensions based upon the file's Type and Creator:'
		Never

Next, go to the 'Associations' dialog and check the following - Sit, BinHex, Lha.


Iconshop 1.20 Alpha Configuration
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Iconshop as default is ready for most anything you can throw at it. As is though, you should change one setting, though not vital, will help alot if you plan on exporting icons and editing them. Launch the program and go to the Options dialog box (tools menu) and click on the 'Export' tab. click on the transparent color box and the default Windows color picker will pop up. Change the Red, Green and Blue values to 0,0,2 respectively.



Icon Conversion (basic - for those using 32x32 icon sizes)
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If you're running your pixels no larger than 32x32 pixels, then you'll only need to follow this basic Icon Conversion technique. Once you download the icon set from the internet (most Mac iconsets will either be .sit or .hqx), use Stuffit Expander to unstuff the files to the directory of your choice. From that point, drag the expanded folder (or the individual files individually if you so desire) to the Iconshop icon (or open window). Once that pops open, you should be staring at the icons. There is a pulldown box on the upper-right side of the window showing the possible icon sizes available. Make sure there are resources for 32x32 and 16x16. If the icon sizes are there, you now have the choice of exporting the icons into an .icl file, or as individual .ico files.

.icl files are wrapper files which contain a bunch of .ico files. you can't open them up in WinXP w/o using another program. You can use these when customizing a file to point to a specific icon though.

.ico files are individual icons.

If you want to save it as an .icl file, simply choose save from the File menu. If you want to export the icons into .ico files, select the icons you want (or hit Control-A to select all) and right click on an icon. From the pop-up menu, choose export. From the last pulldown box (underneath the name), choose Icons(ICO)


Icon Conversion (not so basic - for those using >32x32 sized icons)
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Follow the first paragraph of the basic icon conversion and leave it at that for now. To add the missing sizes, we'll need to export the icon as a .Tiff file, which preserves the alpha-channel in the graphic as we resize it. From the pulldown box in the main Iconshop window, choose '128x128, true color (32-bit)'. Select the icon(S) you want to export, and save them as a .Tiff file now (almost following the exact way to export .ico files as shown above).

After that's done, you'll need a paint program that can handle and resize graphics (tiff files in particular). Photoshop and PaintShopPro are the best programs for this. After you export the .tiff file, open it in Photoshop or PaintshopPro. Resample the graphic to the size you're looking for (48x48, 64x64 or 72x72) and save it. After you've done that to all the icons you wanted to downsample, drag them back into the Iconshop window containing the icons you're still converting. at this point, go back to that pulldown box on the main window and select 'All Formats'. Hit Alt 1 in Iconshop to sort the icons by name. Now you'll want to start joining the file you just brought in to the icon 'family' you alredy have. select the icons that belong together (hold control to select the second graphic whill still keeping the first hilighted) and right click on the second icon. From the pop-up menu, hit Join. Delete the smaller icon and continue until done.

If you want, go back and feel free to create the other missing sizes if you so wish (for completeness sakes).


Tips
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1. Once you've downsampled the graphic in Photoshop/PSP, see if sharpening the image using your sharpen filter will produce a better looking icon.

2. Experiment, experiment, experiment. The more you do this, the more you'll learn how to almost 'automate' the process...especially if you use Photoshop and Droplets.

3. PaintshopPro 7's downsampling algorithm is better than Photoshop 6. Take a 128x128 icon, downsample it to 48x48 or 32x32 and check for yourself.

4. Have fun :)


MacOS X Icon Sites
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Iconfactory.com
Xicons.com
PerfectYosemitie.com


To use larger icon sizes in XP
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Real simple to do, and free. Go to your desktop properties, and over to the 'Appearance' tab. Click on the 'Advanced' button and from the pulldown box, select 'Icon'. Next to that, there should be an numeric number (either 32 or 48) that you can increase to 64 to utilize the larger icon sizes.


How to change System Icons in XP (for free)
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Iconphile by Scrow - http://www.virtualplastic.net/scrow/iphile.html

Change most of your icons and save it as an Iconphile theme to change all your icons with one double-click.


Acknowledgements
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VirtualPlastic.net for getting me started on converting MacOS X icons in the first place.
All the great graphic-art talents who created the original icons.

email me at endless17@onebox.com if you need anymore help.