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Now that Parallels provides support for automatic Coherence mode and the ability to add Windows applications to the OS X dock, it’s time to show you just how easy it is to replace icons to match the rest of your interface.

As much as I would love to disconnect and devote most of my computing time to one operating system, work requires that I toy with Internet Explorer on a regular basis.

By default, Parallels uses the default Windows application icon plus the addition of a mini Parallels icon to apps added to the dock. Personally, I could do without both. Replacing an applications icon is as easy as removing the icon from the dock, navigating to your Parallels directory /Parallels/Windows XP (install)/Windows Applications folder, and getting ‘Info’ on whatever application you wish to “enhance”. Those familiar with the old copy ‘n paste icon replacement know that replacing the icon is only as challenging as finding a suitable replacement.

To replace the Internet Explorer 6 & 7 icons, I turned to Google and found these glossy replacements by *weboso. The icons are distributed as .icn and .png files. To use them in order to replace Internet Explorer’s default, use a small utility called img2icns. I’ve already created two folder with icons for both IE6 & IE7 thanks to *weboso’s fantastic work. Download the zip file.

To replace icons, get info on the unzipped folder items. Select the icon at the top of the info window, press CMD+C (to copy to the clipboard). Get info on the Parallels Internet Explorer icon and highlight the icon at the top of the window. Press CMD+V (paste from clipboard) to change the icon. Drag the new icon to the dock and enjoy.