~ How do I convert .ico's to .png's?

It's quite painless with IconWorkshop
http://axialis.com/iconworkshop/index.html
...but if you're looking for a free solution......I dunno.

if you want to convert large amounts of icons, IconWorkshop is the best solution.

if you only want to convert icons you actually use in your dock i would consider it a waste of money.

free converter:

@Icon Sushi http://towofu.s5.xrea.com/soft/e-index.html

also, but takes more time than the program above: Iconshop 1.20 can extract to TIFF and you can convert TIFF to PNG in Photoshop http://users.pandora.be/liontech/

Moshi to the rescue! If anyone knows where to find a freeware equivalent, he's the man.