animated icons

could anyone please tell me whether aimated icons are possible in windows XP, and if so, how to create them?

thanks

 

I downloaded free animated icons from animationlibrary.com. These are great GIF images. My problem is that these images can only be viewed, as far as I know, with the OT Player and other choices such as windows pic & fax , paint, picture viewer and Internet Explorer, all of which frame the icon. I want to display my animated icon, without a viewer, such as I've seen right here in this discussion or on e-mails or online documents; ie, a stand-alone icon in all its glory. Can any of you computer guru's tell me how it's done? I would even buy animated icons, retail, if that's what it takes. Please help.
Helen of Mkhelen 8/11/03