Custom Icons for Windows Standalone

[Ben Bock]

I'd like to create a custom icon for a standalone in Windows.  It appears as if this is more involved than creating a file  .ico using IconMaster XP shareware, because I received an error message listing 9 required image formats that my .ico was lacking.  I've searched thru docs and the Google Rev site, with no luck on finding instructions for creating an icon with the proper attributes.  Before I buy any software, I'd like to find what others' experience has shown.

Thank you for any help,

Ben