hacking the start menu button

D

DeepBlade

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For the guide on how to hack the start menu button, how do you replace a picture/icon that has see through stuff on it...? I hope you guys can understand what i'm saying... the picture beside the word 'start' can be replaced with something else, but i can't make it see through parts so that when u click on it, the square of it changes too.... but the actual icon doesn't...
 
I think I know what you mean, you not only see the artwork, you see the background as well.

If thats the case then you want to do your editing in something like Paintshop Pro. If you are starting from scratch then you can set the background as transparent from the start.

If you are editing an existing artwork, then import it into PSP and using the Magic Wand tool select all the stuff you don't want to see (the background) and then you have the option to set it as transparent.

I hope i've been of some use.

TOK:cool:
 
hacking the start button

Maybe I am just being blonde here but I did everything the instructions said to do, but I didn't see anyhwere in the instructions on how to add the new start buttons I downloaded from the instructions. Please help I'm desperate here!

Signed,
The Village Idiot :confused:
 
it works fine fer me... but the thing is that ya, i get the 'fixed' background...

what if i only have paint...? is there anyway to do it with paint?
 
Right, to change the artwork on your start button:

1: You need to get hold of a lovely little utility called Resource Hacker from

http://rpi.net.au/~ajohnson/resourcehacker/

2: Copy Explorer.exe from :\Windows\ folder to anywhere safe.

3: Run Resource Hacker and load the SAVED Explorer.exe into it.
When this is done you will see a resource tree on the left pane. Under "Bitmaps" open number 143 and there is the existing artwork. Now, click on the "Action" Menu and select "Replace Bitmap" and you will be presented with a file select dialog box.
Click on "Open file with new bitmap" and select the new image, and then, making sure the selector under "Select bitmap to replace" has 143 highlighted click OK.

4: Goto "File" menu, click on save, and that is the hard part done with.


5: Finally you have to copy the edited Explorer.exe back to your windows folder. I normally use a boot disk or CD and drop into DOS to do it, it's far easier.


Hope i've been of some use.


p.s. Added this in answer to third posting, in answer to fourth posting: I don't think paint is any good for the job. Paintshop Pro is the one to go for, you should find it on virtually any Magazine cover CD, or download a shareware version from JASC website.

TOK:D :D
 
aawwwwwww......!!!!!
(reads on)
aaaaawwwwww.......!!!!! i don't like shareware stuff!
does adobe photoshop work...?
 
I use Photoshop religiously, but I don't like to push it because it's still not in the public domain. And yes, Photoshop will do nicely, thanks.

TOK:cool: :D :cool:
 
ok well I found something called style XP and changed the colors of the start button and such from there. I could always change the start text in res hacker but I couldn't figure where the start button was at. Thanks anyway guys
 
oh and by the way my bitmat number 143 is only a small icon not the whole button so I just took it out and deleted it so I don't have an icon on my start button anymore only the text which i changed to GO! but the XP styles thing works nicely you can find it at http://www.tgtsoft.com/download_stylebuilder.html
 
damn.. still got a problem... resource hacker won't let me choose any other formats other than BMP, RES and EXE, but BMP cannot support transparency (i think) so what do i do now? got any ideas???? what's RES? and EXE?
 
I tried the whole transparency thing and it didn't work for me either I actually took out the image completely and have no image on my start button now.
 
....damn!
is there any other program like resource hacker that supports JPGs or GIFs?
 

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