Change Text on XP Start Button

Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File

In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at
C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it
requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used
Resource Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view,
modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows
executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal
resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows
95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

get this from h**p://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip

The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe
located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your
hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open
explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

The category we are going to be using is "String Table". Expand it by
clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37
followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout
rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will
display the stringtable. We’re going to modify item 578, currently
showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start
button.

There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that
it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the
highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that
you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used Click
Me!

You’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the
Compile Script button that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get
into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s
going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then
save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do
not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and
choose a name for the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.


Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!!

Now that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to
modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs
on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not
sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory
lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in
the Open field. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

In the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit
String dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to
save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Close Registry Editor and either log off the system and log back in, or
reboot the entire system if that’s your preference. If all went as
planned you should see your new Start button with the revised text.[/b]