Hm, I think icons would usually have the entire icon resource loaded... all sizes and bit depths included. It probably depends on how Windows loads icons, and I don't know that offhand.

If you really want icons, convert the icons to 16 *color* bitmaps and use shortcuts or something. All the automatic stuff adds overhead. But the least resource usage you'll get with litestep is nothing but hotkeys. (or I guess you could run everything off of the "emergency" menu)