Help please!!

On my Win7 system I right-clicked on the Downloads folder that shows this same icon, clicked "Properties" and "Change Icon" - it tells me that it's one of the icons in C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll" - presumably from the Properties page I could choose something else.

Have you tried that method in lieu of editiing the registry? (I don't have access to my Win8 system right now so I don't know if the same process works there, but I see no reason why it would not.) Or, try searching the registry for "imageres.dll" to see if you can find it that way. This being a system folder it might have a "real" name other than "Downloads" ...

The Downloads Icon is in C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll Icon Group 184

For its individual icons from the group

48 x 48 (16 colors) - Ordinal name: 2027
32 x 32 (16 colors) - Ordinal name: 2028
24 x 24 (16 colors) - Ordinal name: 2029
16 x 16 (16 colors) - Ordinal name: 2030
48 x 48 (256 colors) - Ordinal name: 2031
32 x 32 (256 colors) - Ordinal name: 2032
24 x 24 (256 colors) - Ordinal name: 2033
16 x 16 (256 colors) - Ordinal name: 2034
256 x 256 (16.8mil colors) - Ordinal name: 2035
48 x 48 (16.8mil colors) - Ordinal name: 2036
32 x 32 (16.8mil colors) - Ordinal name: 2037
24 x 24 (16.8mil colors) - Ordinal name: 2038
16 x 16 (16.8mil colors) - Ordinal name: 2039