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