How to Change Text on Windows 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]

Forget password to get back into Windows XP

Because of the security features built into Windows XP, it is virtually impossible to get back into the system without the password. You have several options to try and get around this problem.

If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you can use that account to change the password of the account that is locked out. You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into Windows XP.

First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode.
1.Restart your system.
2.When you see the blue Dell globe or screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3 times a second.
3.You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys to highlight (SafeMode)
4.Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP).
5.The system should boot to Safe Mode.

Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon
for the user account with administrator rights, or click on the icon
for the administrators account.
Note: For Home the Administrator account isn't normally shown & in Safe Mode you have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show.
For PRO you can do this in normal mode

When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change the accounts password.
1.Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools.
2.Click Computer Management.
3.Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users.
4.Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set Password.
5.You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click proceed.
6.Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box blank.
7.Click OK, and OK again.
8.Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in.

There are also applications that can recover the password for you.
The following companies provide these applications at a cost.
iOpus® Password Recovery XP here.
LostPassword.com, here.
Asterisk Password Recovery XP v1.89 here.
Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key here.

If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only option left is to
format the hard drive then reinstall Windows and the system software.

Delete An undeletable File in Windows

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete.
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.


Or you can try the following:

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose 'All files' from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

put a " at the start and end of the filename (the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it), then click save. It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal.

Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\applic~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

Some applications in Add/Remove Programs list are missing Change and Remove buttons?

When you open Add/Remove Programs applet and click an application entry, you may notice that the Change, Remove (or Change/Remove) buttons may be missing, thus leaving only the application name entry there. Here is a method to make Windows show the Remove, Change (or the Change/Remove button together) buttons in the listing.

Go through the following steps to resolve the issue.

• Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT. This starts the Registry Editor. Navigate to:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  \SOFTWARE
  \Microsoft
  \Windows
  \CurrentVersion
  \Uninstall
  \

• In the right-pane, do the following:
  Double-click NoRemove (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0
  Double-click NoModify (REG_DWORD) and set it to 0

If NoRemove is set to 1, the Remove button will be unavailable
If NoModify is set to 1, the Change button will be unavailable

Stop launching Dial-up connection window automatically while working

While working in the windows XP system, you might see the dial-up connection dialog coming up automatically. This is caused by some application which is trying to connect to the internet. The exact application is unknown. Most applications for Windows XP are configured and developed to check for updates automatically by contacting respective home website. Some applications notify the user before contacting their servers, most don't. This may be caused by spyware as well. Adwares contact their servers to fetch Ads and some Trojan may even send out your valuable information.

To prevent such automatic dialup box, to appear in windows XP, turn off the Remote Access Auto Connection Manager Service. This Service creates a connection to a remote network whenever a program references a remote DNS or NetBIOS name or address. To disable this service, try these steps:

1. Right click My Computer icon, choose Manage/Services and Applications/Services
2. In the right pane, select Remote Access Auto Connection Manager and double click
3. Use the Startup type drop box and choose Disabled.

You may identify the outgoing traffic using an application-based firewall like Sygate or Zone Alarm. Also, it's advisable to scan for spyware and parasites using a trusted antispyware software.

Cancel Automatic logon in Windows XP

If you've configured Windows XP to automatically login earlier, and want to cancel the auto-logon, try any of these methods:

Method 1:

In Windows XP, by default, MSGina.dll checks the state of the SHIFT key when AutoAdminLogon is 1. If the SHIFT key is held down during the boot process, MSGina.dll will ignore the AutoAdminLogon key value and prompt the user for identification and authentication information interactively. You can use this method to temporarily disable automatic logon at Windows XP startup.

Method 2:
On Windows XP, click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type control userpasswords2, and then click OK. In the dialog box that appears, enable Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer check box, and then click OK.

Method 3:

Click Start, Run and type rundll32 netplwiz.dll,ClearAutoLogon

Method 4:
Use this method only if you've configured the automatic logon using the registry manually. Because, automatic logon procedure using Control Userpasswords2 or using Tweak UI does not involve Winlogon \ DefaultPassword key at all. They are stored in protected area of Windows XP.

• Open Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ WindowsNT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon

• Delete the DefaultPassword entry.
• Double-click AutoAdminLogon, type 0 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.

Disable "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" option by default in the Open With dialog

When you attempt to open an unknown file type, you'll be prompted with the Open With dialog box to choose the appropriate application from the listing. The option Always use the selected program to open this kind of file is selected by default, which associates the file type with the chosen program.

There are situations where you need to test / open an unregistered file type with different applications, at different times and a permanent association is impractical. In the case, you uncheck the option Always use the selected program to open.... and open the file for that instance without creating an association. This has to be done each time you open the file type.

To disable All File Types
===================
To disable the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file option for all file types, use the following steps:

1. Go to Registry Editor. Click Start, Run and type Regedit
2. Navigate to the location: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Unknown \ shell \ openas \ command
3. Double-click and set its Value data to: rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1 %2
4. Exit Registry Editor.

To disable particular File Type
====================

1. Click Start, Run and type RegEdit
2. Navigate to the following location: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
3. Create a sub-key for the file type.
Example: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.XYZ
[Note: . (DOT) before the extension is required.]
4. Exit the Registry Editor.

Now, the option Always use the selected program to open this kind of file will be unchecked by default for files with extension .XYZ. Similarly you may create sub-keys for other file extensions as needed.