Change Start Button Text
The start button is the most clicked on button in all of Windows. If you are going to customize windows, why not customize the start button. It is possible to change the text of the start button through the use of a hex editor which is a special program that allows you to edit files that were already compiled.
To get started, all you need is a hex editor which you can dowload for free on the web. If you do not have a hex editor, visit download.com and preform a search for hex editor and you will find several.
Once you have the hex editor downloaded and installed, just open up explorer.exe which is found in the windows directory in the program. Then go to the following offsets and you will see the text S T A R T. Just modify the letters to what ever you wish and save the file and you are set to go. Make sure that you leave the spaces between the letters and you only overwrite the five letters.
The file offsets for XP are:
000412b6 - 000412bf and
0004158a - 00041593
This method has a few limitations though, you can only use exactly 5 letters. If you want to us somthing with more than five letters, below is another guide that will also change the start menu text. It is from tweakersguide.com but it was in German so here's my rough translation.
First of all you will need to download a exe editor - Resource Hacker and Hacker 2.0 are avaliable from
www.downloads.com and are adequate for the task in hand.
The first 3 steps stop the file we are going to tamper with from being restored automatically when windows restarts
1) with notepad or a text editor open the file c:\windows\system32\restore\filelist.xml (you might need to change it's properites from read only first by right clicking on the file and selecting properties, then remove the tich from the read only checkbox)
2) add the following line to the first section to exclude explorer.exe from the protected file list
- %windir%explorer.exe
3) save the file (and apply the read only properties back if you wish)
The next 2 steps actually modify the explorer.exe file that is the windows shell so back it up first if you are uncertain what you are doing (to back up the file, open a cmd window and type -
copy c:\windows\explorer.exe c:\windows\explorer.bak)
4) Open the file c:\windows\explorer.exe with your exe editor and edit the text in following lines
String Table > 37 > 1033
String Table > 38 > 1033
You just edit the text inside the "Start" to what ever you want and compile if necessary (depends on your exe editor - you will if you use ResHack)
5) save the file as (file > save as) explorer.xp (back up this file to another disk if you want to save a bit of hassle after you recover the machine next time)
Now you need to copy the file you've modified best way I've found to do this is to boot to safe mode command prompt although it's been suggested that you can stop the explorer.exe process with Task Manager, copy the fie in a cmd prompt then restart the process again - that worked for me but the origional returned after a restart. The next 3 steps describe how you copy the file
6) restart the machine and start tapping F8 to get the start menu - choose safe mode with command prompt
7) log on as Administrator and you'll be presented with a cmd prompt
8) To copy the modified file just type
copy c:\windows\explorer.xp c:\windows\explorer.exe
assuming that's where you saved it to with your exe editor)
9) Restart Machine and VOILA!
Change the email icon in the start menu
Well, I'll get straight to the point. This tweak will allow you to change the default icon for the e-mail shortcut in the start menu to whatever you want. You should be familliar with regedit prior to trying this.
1. Click on "Start" and go to "run"
2. In the run dialog type "regedit"
3. Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\" by expanding the appropriate branches of the tree.
4. Select the email client that you are currently using.
5. You can now modify the (default) key and rename the shortcut to whatever you want.
6. To change the icon expand the selected client and click on "DefaultIcon".
7. Change the (default) key to point to the icon file of your choice by double-clicking it. If you are going to use a .exe file with multiple icons inside you should specify with a comma after the target the index number. (Eg. C:\icons.exe, 2)
8. Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
Change XP Boot Screen
If you would like to change your boot up screen follow the directions below. These instructions assume that you have a place to download the boot screen from the net. If you would like to download a boot screen, visit
http://www.themexp.org
1. Backup (copy) the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (most likely C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe - the boot screen)
2. Download the .zip to your computer (important: make sure to get the right version, XP or XP SP1)
3. Extract ntoskrnl.exe to a directory other than %windir%\system32 (most likely C:\windows\system32)
4. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode (hit F8 before the boot screen) or into true DOS (from a boot disk)
5. Overwrite the file %windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe (which should have been backed up) with the extracted exe
6. Reboot your computer as you normally would
Change your Welcome (login) Screen
This tweak will only work if you have the "Use welcome screen" option activated in Control Panel>Users Accounts>Logon and Logoff Options.
1. Make a backup copy of C:\windows\system32\logonui.exe
2. Overwrite the file with your new login screen. (be sure to use the same file name as the old logonui.exe)
3. If you ever want to revert back to the old login screen, just overwrite C:\windows\system32\logonui.exe with your backup.
Some edits and supplements
Windows System File Protection will not allow to override the file unless you follow these steps:
1. Rename the logonui.exe file in either C:\Windows\system32\dllcache or in C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 (depends on if and how you installed the servicepack).
2. Copy your custom logonui.exe to this folder.
3. Boot into safe mode and do exactly the same (rename the original file and copy in your new one) in C:\Windows\system32. System File Protection will pop up two windows. Answer them with "cancel" and "yes".
Note: It is always better to rename the original file and not override it.
Alternatively you can use this method to change the Welcome screen :
1. Copy your custom logon file under another name, let's say logonuiA.exe, to C:\Windows\system32.
2. Open regedit (Always backup before changing anything in the registry) to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
and change the value for UIHost to logonuiA.exe
).
Linear Mode
