You've written programs and created executables, and also probably distributed them. But, it would feel strange to pass on your .EXE as just-another-exe. Windows provides a default executable icon to your generated output EXE file which looks something like this:
Well, there's nothing wrong in having such an icon for your executable file. But, the hard work who put in in implementing the functionality within the EXE certainly deserves some credit and possibly a custom designed icon.
Lets see how we can do this. It's fairly simple. Once you're done with the coding stuff and you're ready to build your exe for release, go to the Project Properties -> Application tab -> Resources Group. Here, you will find the Icon and manifest radio button, select it and select the icon you need to use for your adorable application.
Please note that the above screenshot is the Project Properties tab for VS 2008 and it would look slightly different from the one you would see in VS 2005.
You now build the application and have a look at the generated executable which would look something like:
I created this icon by adding a resource (.resx) file to my project and then adding an icon to that resource file. Scribbled a bit using an MS Paint kind of pencil and here we go, I have a brand new icon (looks familiar, something like an inverse of Red Cross, but I could only think of this one right now).