diff --git a/main.js b/main.js
index e0da04d..d374b82 100644
--- a/main.js
+++ b/main.js
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ const SEARCH_ENGINES = {
 };
 // Engines enabled by default (shown in the toolbar dropdown). The rest are in the
 // catalog and can be turned on from Settings. Custom + detected engines are always on.
-const DEFAULT_ENABLED = ["duckduckgo", "google", "brave", "bing", "startpage"];
+const DEFAULT_ENABLED = ["startpage", "duckduckgo", "google", "brave", "bing"];
 // DuckDuckGo's icon service reliably returns a favicon for ANY domain from one
 // privacy-respecting host — far more robust than guessing /favicon.ico per site.
 const faviconUrl = (domain) => (domain ? `https://icons.duckduckgo.com/ip3/${domain}.ico` : null);
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ const SETTINGS_DEFAULTS = {
   timezoneMode: "show",  timezoneValue: "Europe/Berlin",       // IANA zone for manual
   languageMode: "show",  languageSpoof: "en-US", languageValue: "en-US", // spoof = top-10 pick, manual = free text
   locationMode: "hide",  locationRegion: "europe",  locationLat: "40.7128", locationLon: "-74.0060", // spoof by region, or manual coords
-  searchEngine: "duckduckgo",// default search engine (built-in id or a custom id)
+  searchEngine: "startpage",// default search engine (built-in id or a custom id)
   installedEngines: DEFAULT_ENABLED.slice(), // built-in engines added to the user's list (visible in Settings)
   enabledEngines: DEFAULT_ENABLED.slice(),   // subset that's currently toggled on (shown in the toolbar dropdown)
   engineOrder: [],           // user-defined display order of engine ids (empty = natural)
@@ -1759,7 +1759,14 @@ function closeTab(id) {
 }
 
 function createWindow() {
-  win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 1220, height: 840, title: "Theseus Navigator", backgroundColor: "#0f1420" });
+  win = new BrowserWindow({
+    width: 1220, height: 840, title: "Theseus Navigator", backgroundColor: "#0f1420",
+    // Taskbar / titlebar icon. Packaged builds ship build/icon.ico as
+    // extraResource; dev reads the source file directly.
+    icon: app.isPackaged
+      ? path.join(process.resourcesPath, "icon.ico")
+      : path.join(__dirname, "build", "icon.ico"),
+  });
   chrome = new WebContentsView({ webPreferences: { preload: path.join(__dirname, "preload.js") } });
   win.contentView.addChildView(chrome);
   chrome.webContents.loadFile("chrome.html");
diff --git a/nsis/make-icons.mjs b/nsis/make-icons.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d29618
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nsis/make-icons.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// One-shot script: render site-theseus-x/assets/favicon.svg to the icon
+// files electron-builder wants — a 512x512 PNG (main icon) and a multi-
+// resolution .ico (Windows taskbar / installer / shortcut icon).
+//
+// Not in the runtime app bundle; run manually when the brand changes:
+//   node nsis/make-icons.mjs
+// Outputs build/icon.png and build/icon.ico (both gitignored regenerated).
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import sharp from "sharp";
+import pngToIco from "png-to-ico";
+
+const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+// SVG source lives in the theseus.x standalone site so the browser icon
+// and the site brand stay in lockstep.
+const SVG = path.join(__dirname, "..", "..", "site-theseus-x", "assets", "favicon.svg");
+// Icons drop into build/, which is gitignored (regenerated artifacts).
+// electron-builder picks them up from there via package.json.
+const OUT_DIR = path.join(__dirname, "..", "build");
+const PNG_512 = path.join(OUT_DIR, "icon.png");
+const ICO = path.join(OUT_DIR, "icon.ico");
+const TMP_DIR = path.join(OUT_DIR, ".icon-tmp");
+const ICO_SIZES = [16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128, 256];
+
+if (!fs.existsSync(SVG)) throw new Error("SVG not found at " + SVG);
+console.log("source:", SVG);
+
+// Main 512x512 PNG for macOS / linux / electron-builder auto-derived Windows.
+await sharp(SVG).resize(512, 512).png().toFile(PNG_512);
+console.log("wrote", PNG_512);
+
+// Write individual sized PNGs to a temp dir, then feed their paths to
+// png-to-ico so it preserves each as a distinct image inside the .ico.
+fs.mkdirSync(TMP_DIR, { recursive: true });
+const paths = [];
+for (const size of ICO_SIZES) {
+  const p = path.join(TMP_DIR, `icon-${size}.png`);
+  await sharp(SVG).resize(size, size).png().toFile(p);
+  paths.push(p);
+}
+const ico = await pngToIco(paths);
+fs.writeFileSync(ICO, ico);
+console.log("wrote", ICO, `(${ICO_SIZES.length} sizes)`);
+
+// Clean up the temp PNGs.
+for (const p of paths) fs.unlinkSync(p);
+fs.rmdirSync(TMP_DIR);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 66a59ed..4348e8e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "theseus-navigator",
-  "version": "0.2.2",
+  "version": "0.2.3",
   "description": "Theseus Navigator — a browser that follows the thread. By Silent Mode, a Deviant project.",
   "author": "Silent Mode",
   "main": "main.js",
@@ -97,9 +97,14 @@
       {
         "from": "bundled-addons",
         "to": "bundled-addons"
+      },
+      {
+        "from": "build/icon.ico",
+        "to": "icon.ico"
       }
     ],
     "win": {
+      "icon": "build/icon.ico",
       "target": [
         "nsis",
         "portable"
@@ -110,7 +115,10 @@
       "perMachine": false,
       "allowToChangeInstallationDirectory": true,
       "artifactName": "TheseusNavigator-Setup-${version}.${ext}",
-      "include": "nsis/installer.nsh"
+      "include": "nsis/installer.nsh",
+      "installerIcon": "build/icon.ico",
+      "uninstallerIcon": "build/icon.ico",
+      "installerHeaderIcon": "build/icon.ico"
     },
     "portable": {
       "artifactName": "TheseusNavigator-${version}-portable.${ext}"
diff --git a/sidebar-preload.js b/sidebar-preload.js
index ede86cc..218b19e 100644
--- a/sidebar-preload.js
+++ b/sidebar-preload.js
@@ -15,12 +15,60 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("silentmode", {
   onVisibility: (cb) => ipcRenderer.on("sidebar-visibility", (_e, visible) => cb(!!visible)),
 });
 
+// -- Panel picker strip -----------------------------------------------------
+// Injected at the top of every panel document so the user can switch between
+// registered extension panels without a settings round-trip. Only appears
+// when 2+ panels exist. Main pushes the panel list here via IPC on the
+// initial sidebar-state event.
+async function installPickerStrip() {
+  let state;
+  try { state = await ipcRenderer.invoke("sidebar-state"); } catch { return; }
+  const panels = (state && state.panels) || [];
+  if (panels.length < 2) return;
+  const strip = document.createElement("div");
+  strip.setAttribute("aria-label", "Extension panels");
+  strip.style.cssText = [
+    "position:fixed", "top:0", "left:5px", "right:0", "height:32px",
+    "display:flex", "align-items:stretch", "gap:1px",
+    "background:rgba(11,14,20,.85)", "backdrop-filter:blur(8px)",
+    "border-bottom:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.10)",
+    "z-index:2147483646", "user-select:none",
+    "font:12px/1 system-ui,-apple-system,Segoe UI,Roboto,sans-serif",
+  ].join(";");
+  const active = state.active;
+  for (const p of panels) {
+    const tab = document.createElement("button");
+    tab.type = "button";
+    const isActive = p.panelId === active;
+    tab.style.cssText = [
+      "flex:1", "min-width:0", "padding:0 10px", "border:0",
+      "background:" + (isActive ? "rgba(214,255,61,.10)" : "transparent"),
+      "color:" + (isActive ? "#d6ff3d" : "#8b98a9"),
+      "cursor:pointer",
+      "display:flex", "align-items:center", "gap:6px", "justify-content:center",
+      "overflow:hidden", "text-overflow:ellipsis", "white-space:nowrap",
+      "font:inherit",
+    ].join(";");
+    tab.innerHTML = '<span>' + (p.icon || "🧩") + '</span><span>' + p.title.replace(/</g, "&lt;") + '</span>';
+    tab.addEventListener("click", () => ipcRenderer.invoke("sidebar-open", p.panelId));
+    strip.appendChild(tab);
+  }
+  document.body.appendChild(strip);
+  // Push the panel body down so the 32-px strip doesn't overlap the content.
+  // box-sizing:border-box keeps 100%-tall panels from overflowing when we
+  // add the padding.
+  const style = document.createElement("style");
+  style.textContent = "html,body{box-sizing:border-box}body{padding-top:33px!important}";
+  document.head.appendChild(style);
+}
+
 // Sidebar resize grip. Injected into every panel automatically so panel
 // authors don't have to reinvent it. A thin strip along the LEFT edge
 // (the boundary between the tab area and the sidebar) accepts mousedown
 // and streams drag deltas to main until mouseup. Main clamps the width
 // to [200, 800] and persists it in settings.sidebarWidth.
 window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
+  installPickerStrip();
   const grip = document.createElement("div");
   grip.setAttribute("aria-label", "Resize sidebar");
   grip.style.cssText = [