ALWAYS BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU EDIT OR DELETE. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS UP YOUR COMPUTER UP BY DOING THIS HACK. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
First off, you need to download a program called Resource Hacker. It's kinda like a hex editor, it allows you to change bitmaps, texts, ect. in program files.
Windows XP has feature called Windows File Protection. This feature stops you from changing important system file, that could leave your operating system, non-functional. The file that we need to edit, Explorer.exe, is protected by the Windows File Protection. What we need to do, is make Explorer.exe not part of Windows File Protection. Once we do that, we will be able to edit Explorer.exe when we want, and as much as we want.
Click on your start button -> then Run and type in "%systemroot%system32Restore" without the quotes. Now you should see the file filelist.xml. What? You don't see it? We can fix that. In windows explorer click Tools->Folder Option->View ans scroll down where it says Hide Protected operating system files (recommend) ans un-check it. Also click where it says Show hidden files ans folders, and uncheck Hide extensions for unknown file types. Lastly, hit OK. Now you should see filelist.xml listed. Right click on filelist.xml ans click properties. Uncheck where it says Read Only and then click OK. Good, now we can edit filelist.xml. Right click filelist.xml again, and click Open with then on Notepad. The file should now be opened in Notepad. This is where Windows File Protection looks to see if it needs to protect a file or not. Where it says:
%windir%system.ini
add this line above it:
%systemroot%explorer.exe
Now, click file -> Save. (Not Save as)
Next click on your start menu -> run and type in "%systemroot%system32dllcache" without the quotes. In this DIR, find and delete Explorer.exe. This is a back up copy of Explorer.exe and windows might try and replace this copy with your hacked copy if it isn't deleted. After you delete it, windows will popup a message. Just hit cancel and then yes.
We should now be able to edit Explorer.exe as we wish. Run Resource Hacker (the file you downloaded earlier). In ResHacker click File-> Open and open Explorer.exe. Mine is located in c:winntexplorer.exe yours is maybe located in c:\windows\explorer.exe. Once you have it open you should see something like this: *CLICK HERE*
To change the "start" text on the start button go to: String Table -> 37 -> 1033. To the right, you should see the words "start". You can change this to anything you want. I changed mine to dru. Next, hit the Compile Script button above. Now, go to String Table -> 38 -> 1033. Again, to the right you should see "Start". Change this to the same thing you changed the other one to, mine says dru Next, hit the Compile Script above. Now, if you just wanted to change the start button text, you can skip down to "Saving". See Example -> *CLICK HERE*
Don't you hate the little icon (image) on the start button? Well, we can change it, and it's very easy to do.
In ResHacker, go to Bitmap -> 143 -> 1033. You should see the window that is on the start button to the right. To change it, go to Action -> Replace bitmap -> Open with new bitmap. Now you can make your own image. If you want to make your own, it has to be 25x20 and 16 million colors. Once you found the bitmap you want to use, just click open then click Replace.
Lastly, to change the Start Menu border, go to Bitmap -> 167 -> 1033. (This is Windows XP Pro. If you have Home Edition, It's Bitmap->166-1033) Click Action -> Replace bitmap -> and where it says Select bitmap to replace: scroll down to 167 or 166 if you have XP Home Edition. Now, click Open file with new bitmap and find the image you want to replace it with, click open, then on Replace.
If you want to edit the default image, or use it as a template, just right click on the Windows XP Pro/Home image and click copy. Now, open up your favorite graphics program, I have Jasc Paintshop Pro, and hit CTRL-V. That should paste the image from your clipboard tp your graphics program. If you want to make your own, it has to be 21x233 16 million colors. Once your down editing, just save it as a .bmp somewhere on your drive.
Additional Comments:
-Saving
There are alot of bitmaps in Explorer.exe along with Text Strings, that you can change, just hack around in it and see what you can find. If you try and save Explorer.exe it won't save. Why? Because Explorer.exe is currently running on your computer and it can't save while the program is running. So how am I suppose to to save it? Well, there are a few ways to do that. One, you could save your hacked version on floppy, boot to dos and copy it. Two, if you dual boot you could save it from within another operating system. Or three, the easiest and fastest way, save it without rebooting, and here is how:
Hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE adn Windows Task Manager should popup. Click on the processing tab and find explorer.exe, and click it once. Now, hit the end process button at the bottom (Make sure you don't have any other programs open). Your taskbar at the bottom of the screen should disappear. Hold ALT then click tab while holding ALT, then let off the Alt. Keep doing this until Resource Hacker come into view. We can now save Explorer.exe because it is not running. Click File-> Save as-> and find Explorer.exe again, mine is located in c:winnt. It will ask you if you want to overwrite, just click yes. Now, ALT-TAB back to WIndows Task Manager and click on File -> New Task -> in the blank type in Explorer.exe, or type in the full path to explorer like: c:winntexplorer.exe. If you did everything correctly, you should see your new image and name on the start button, along with the start menu border.