Windows makes it easy (although not obvious) to customize the Taskbar with custom icons. You don’t need a third-party app, just the icon files to replace the defaults.

If you don't disable it manually, most will add a new desktop icon by default. After a few years of this, you'll find that your desktop has become a cluttered catastrophe of icons, usually not ...

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To change these icons (or remove them from your desktop), press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. Once it's open, click Personalization, and then Themes.

This frustration is reflected in the Windows 11 Feedback Hub, where a suggestion to never combine app icons and show labels has received 17,527 upvotes, making it the 10th most requested feature.