IcoFX

Editing program of high quality icons that define almost spectacular, considering that this is a free program. Not so much oriented towards the design of icons (this is well above the PixelToolBox) as to their editing and adding special effects (selectable between forty), drop shadow, blur, focus, lighten, darken etc..

You can also convert images into icons, or icons into images, or extract icons from executable files (.exe, .dll, .ocx), but the strength is the ability to change the icons themselves, with various effects including choose.

IcoFX

Microangelo Toolset, Toolsets editor (shareware)

For the past few years is considered one of the best if not the best program for creating/editing icons, even desktop icons to replace the OS with those chosen by us (including executables, Windows does not do that). It has all the options that you can imagine for the design of desktop icons, including the possibility of setting the opacity, or precision instruments (lines, fill, etc.).
It is not easy to use, but not especially difficult. Additional features that have free programs compared to competitors (which are easier already) need a little time to be mastered.

Microangelo Toolset

Icons from file, extract icons

This program is able to extract icons from any executable we choose, and allows us to save them in various formats (bmp, jpg, ico).
The initial impact, because even the thin interface is not the most favorable and we must use it for a few minutes before realizing that it is very good at what he does, and we can appreciate the best.
Overall, if you want to take the icon from any exe file (or even more of an icon, if they are present in the executable itself), is a good choice.

Icons from file