|
|
|
re: Question about 'Customize the Start Menu Button'
Wednesday, July 3, 2002 at 9:46 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by David Burgess
(17 messages posted)
I do not know if this is what you wanted but I got this from CNET's Windows Registry
Guide (or go to: http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2251-10027292.html). Please
read disclaimer. Good Luck!
Would you like to change the Start button to say something else, perhaps your name,
company or any other 5 or less letter word? This article explains the procedure to
manually modify the text of the Windows Start button.
Manually changing the Start button requires the use of a binary file editor (Hex
editor) to alter a critical Windows system file, it is therefore not recommended
for inexperienced users. This method has been successfully tested on Windows 95,
98, ME, 2000 and XP and therefore should be quite safe, although we do not accept
any responsibility for system problems or data loss.
As mentioned before you will need to have a hex editor installed, there are many
different products available and if you don't have one already a quick search of
a shareware site should provide many choices, for this tweak we only require basic
features.
The file that needs to be changed is Windows Explorer, and it is essential to make
a backup before you modify anything. "Explorer.exe" can be found in the Windows directory,
usually C:\WINDOWS for Windows 95, 98, Me & XP and C:\WINNT for Windows NT/2000.
Make a copy of "Explorer.exe" and place it into another directory, C:\BACKUP might
be a good choice.
Make another copy of the original "Explorer.exe" and name it "Explorer1.exe", then
open "Explorer1.exe" in your hex editor.
You now need to find the word "Start", although there are many entries for "Start"
in the file only one is used for to label the Start button. Use the search function
in the hex editor to find all the strings equal to "S t a r t" which is represented
as "53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74" in hex values. As there are many different "Start"
strings keep searching until you find one located just before this text "There was
an internal error and one of the windows you were using has been closed.". Below
is a list of offsets to help you locate the correct text.
Windows 98
Offset: 0x00028D6E - 0x00028D76
Windows NT4
Offset: 0x00028BEE - 0x00028BF6
Windows ME
Offset: 0x00033DDE - 0x00033DE6
Windows 2000
Offset: 0x0003860E - 0x00038616
Windows XP
Offset: 0x000412B6 - 0x000412BE
Once you have located the string, you can then replace the letters in "Start" with
five other characters. You must use exactly five characters, if the word you want
to use is less, replace the remaining characters with the space key. In this example
we have replaced "Start" with "Guide", alternatively a three-letter word would look
like "A B C" (note the spaces).
Now save the modified "Explorer1.exe" in the Windows directory, and confirm that
you now have the two Explorer files in the Windows directory, they both should be
the same file size but have different modified dates.
The next step is different depending on your operating system. Only do the step required
for your version.
Windows 95, 98 & ME
Exit to DOS (or use a boot disk for Windows ME) and at the command prompt change
to the Windows directory and rename "explorer.exe" to "explorer.old". Then copy the
newly modified Explorer "explorer1.exe" to "explorer.exe". Do a directory listing
and confirm that "explorer.exe" has the most recent modified date and time. Restart
the computer and Windows should reload along with the new Start button text.
Windows NT
First close any open applications and open a new Command Prompt window, then switch
back to the GUI and open the Task Manager. Find the "explorer.exe" process and end
it, you should now be left with only the command prompt and task manager. Switch
back to the command prompt and change to the Windows directory, rename "explorer.exe"
to "explorer.old", and copy the newly modified Explorer "explorer1.exe" to "explorer.exe".
Do a directory listing and confirm that "explorer.exe" has the most recent modified
date and time. Switch back to Task Manager and launch a "New Task" called "explorer.exe"
this should reload the shell along with your modified "Start" button.
Windows 2000 and XP
Open your registry editor and find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]. Find the value named "Shell" and change it to equal
the filename of the new explorer "explorer1.exe". Exit your registry editor and restart
Windows for the change to take effect. The reverse the change, modify the value of
"Shell" and set it back to "explorer.exe".
If everything has gone successfully you will now have a new Start button, and also
hopefully learnt something about the Explorer file structure. If you do have problems
replace the faulty Explorer with the backup made during the first step.
Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you
to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from
modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your
own risk.
On Wednesday, July 3, 2002 at 8:46 pm, Michael wrote:
>I have a question about Customize
>the Start Menu Button:
>
>
>I did everything in explorer.exe and exited to dos, but I was not able to replace
>the file.. I thought I was supposed to use chdir for it but appearantly not.. What
>is the dos commands to this with?
|
All messages in this thread [show all]
 |  | re: Question about 'Customize the Start Menu Button' (David Burgess: Wed, Jul 3, 2002, 9:46 pm) |
| |
| |
Return to the Windows 98 Discussion Forum
|
|
|
|
