DO THIS HACK AT YOUR OWN RISK...I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOUR COMPUTER CRASHES FOR SOME REASON. I ALSO RECOMMEND BACKING UP EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU START.
I did this hack on XP Professional, so I'm not sure what other operating systems it works on, but imagine it should work with XP Home Edition as well.
To begin with, you'll need a program, "Resource Hacker" (or from here) in order to edit your system files. Windows XP protects it's system files by "Windows File Protection System." They incorporated this to stop people from editing their important system files that are necessary for the survival of the computer. We're going to be editing "Explorer.exe" which is protected by that. So, we can't just edit the file and save it right away...it's a bit more complicated, but not too bad.
For now, locate the Explorer.exe file which should be located in your Windows folder (C:\Windows\Explorer.exe). Make a copy of this file, and rename it "explorer.bak"
Now, open Resource Hacker, then "File" --- "Open..." --- and open up your Explorer.exe file which should be located in your Windows folder (C:\Windows\Explorer.exe).
Next, go to "String Table" --- "37" --- "1033". Once there, you'll see the word "start" in all the text to the right. Just type in whatever you want in the place of that. I changed mine to "Gig 'em". After you've changed it, hit "Complie Script" then go to "String Table" --- "38" --- "1033" and do the exact same thing (making sure to hit the "Compile Script" button again).
What you should see:
You can also change the little icon (image) on the start button:
Go to "Bitmap" --- "143" --- "1033". To put your own icon there, hit "Action" --- "Replace Bitmap" --- "Open file with new bitmap". Now just replace it with whatever you want. However, the replacement image must be 25x20 pixels, and must be of .bmp extension. Then click the "Replace" button.
If you don't want an image at all on your button:
hit "Action" --- "Delete Resource". Again, make sure you have a backup copy in case you ever want the original files back.
What you should see:
One more thing...whenever you hover your mouse over the START button, a message pops up that says,"Click here to begin". To change this message, go to "String Table" --- "34" --- "1033" and look for that message in quotes. Just replace that message with whatever you want, and hit the "Compile Script" button.
So, once you have all the text/pictures changed the way you want them, and have "Compiled," you're now ready to save. Click "File" --- "Save As..." and save the file AS A DIFFERENT NAME I recommend just saving it as "newstartbutton.exe". And just save it in the same directory as the original explorer.exe (C:\Windows\).
Once you've "Saved As..." as a different name, it's time to restart your computer. However, you need to restart it in "Safe Mode With Command Prompt". How you do this is...hit "F8" as the computer is booting. So in other words, right after you restart, just keep hitting "F8" until a black screen comes up with options on it. "Safe Mode With Command Prompt" will be one of the options...select it. Now, once it's booted up in safe mode, log on as Administrator.
When the command prompt comes up, make sure you're in the right directory by typing "cd c:\windows" (without the quotes).
Now type "copy c:\windows\newstartbutton.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe" (no quotes). Type "yes" (no quotes) to overwrite the existing file when it prompts you to, then restart your computer by typing "shutdown -r" (no quotes).
Now just let it boot-up normally. Hopefully it'll work and you'll see your new start button.
Here is what mine currently looks like:
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or problems. (My contact info is here)
Good luck,
Jeff
