TUTORIAL: Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu - Windows XP

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5/27/2007 12:39 AM

	Vishal Gupta
6462 posts
www.AskVG.com
Ultimate Member

TUTORIAL: Change Look-n-Feel of Windows XP Start Menu

Guys!
In this tutorial, I'll tell u about a few things, which can be used to change the look-n-feel of XP start menu.
After following my tut, u'll get ur Start menu look as shown in following screenshot:

1.) To change the Default entry names in Start menu's right side pane, like Control Panel, Connect To, Help & Support, Run, Search, etc, u'll need to edit %windir%\Explorer.exe file in Resource Hacker and then edit String Table section. I'm giving a few locations, where u can find interesting strings:

String Table -> 439 -> 1033
String Table -> 440 -> 1033
String Table -> 515 -> 1033

2.) Other strings, like My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, My Computer, etc. can be changed in String Table section of %windir%\System32\Shell32.dll file. Just search for them in the file. Most of them will be present in:

String Table -> 577 -> 1033
String Table -> 794 -> 1033
String Table -> 1900 -> 1033
String Table -> 1906 -> 1033

3.) Sometimes u'll not notice the changes in Start menu bcoz windows registry maintains a cache for these entries. So u'll hv to clear the cache to make the changes visible. Just open regedit and goto:

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\MUICache

and in right-side pane, delete all existing values except Default & LangID.

4.) If u want to add ur own entry, like an application shortcut or a folder, then u can follow my following tutorial:

TUTORIAL: How to use the free space under RUN in New Windows XP Start Menu!

5.) And this one is my favorite trick.

I use this trick to remove "All Programs" menu from Start menu bcoz it doesnt look decent and manytimes it gets automatically selected while selecting other entries in Start menu. So I change "Favorites" path to "Programs" folder, so that we can access our program shortcuts. So just follow these steps:

a.) First disable "All Programs" option from Start menu. Open regedit and goto:

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

and in right-side pane, create a DWORD value NoStartMenuMorePrograms and set its value to 1

b.) Now change "Favorites" path to "Programs" folder. In regedit, goto:

Code:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

and change value of Favorites to:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs

NOTE: Change C: to ur system drive, on which windows is installed.

c.) Now change the text of "Favorites" to "Programs" or "All Programs" by editing %windir%\Explorer.exe file in Resource Hacker. Just goto:

String Table -> 515 -> 1033

and in right-side pane, change string in 8235 line with ur desired one.

d.) U can also drag-n-drop important program shortcuts into left-side pane of Start menu for easier access. Don't forget to disable "Internet" & "E-mail" shortcuts and "Recent Items" list from "Start menu & Taskbar Properties".

6.) To change the color & style of Start menu, u can use my "VistaVG" visual style, which will completely change its look.

U can get it here:

VistaVG 1.0 (for 48x iconx)
VistaVG 2.0 (for 32x iconx)

These r the steps to change Start menu's look-n-feel. I hope u guys will like this tut.

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