Visual Style Alternatives

Before visual styles were a part of Windows, only one way existed to change the way Windows looked. That was accomplished by using a program called WindowBlinds, which is made by Stardock (www.windowblinds.net). WindowsBlinds is a classic Windows program. Back when it first came out, it transformed the boring gray interface of Windows into an attractive and colorful experience. Now that Windows XP includes its own skinning engine, products like WindowBlinds, which have their own skinning engine, become less necessary. So why am I even mentioning this application? Because there are some things that it brings to the table that visual styles do not. Because WindowBlinds is a completely independent skinning engine from the Microsoft visual style engine, it has some features that the native engine does not have. One of these features is the ability to skin parts of the operating system that the native skinning engine cannot. The most talked about application that has this problem is the Command prompt in Windows. For some reason, Microsoft’s engine just does not apply visual styles to this window. Instead, it is displayed using the classic Windows interface. WindowBlinds will allow you to skin this app as well. WindowBlinds has a very strong skin base. A lot of very talented people have created XP skins for WindowBlinds that just look great. One benefit of using WindowBlinds to change the way your computer looks is the set of additional features that it provides, one of which is the ability to “roll up” a window so that just its title bar is shown. This is a great feature that can be activate by just double-clicking the title bar on skins that support the feature. Another benefit of using WindowBlinds is its ability to skin applications that were not made to be skinned. This is a nice feature, but can also result in some applications looking a little strange because their buttons and other visual elements are replaced, which often throws off the spacing and placement of controls. The one controversial topic about WindowBlinds is its effect on system performance. Because it runs on top of your computer’s visual system and uses special system calls to change the way the computer looks, it takes up more system resources compared to the native visual style engine. Some users have a fast experience with WindowBlinds, although others do not. It really depends on your computer’s hardware. My personal experience with WindowBlinds has not indicated that they have set any record- setting speeds. I have run WindowBlinds on my computer a lot and have only noticed a decrease of performance in certain situations when I have used it with slower hardware. But my experience does not mean that you too will notice a slowdown. The speed of its operation seems to depend a lot on the specific hardware configuration of your computer, such as your video card and CPU. Also, even if you do notice a slowdown, it might be worth it if you find a really cool skin for WindowBlinds. Either way, I suggest that you give WindowBlinds a shot.

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Tweaking the visual styles

Now that you have finished changing the visual styles using one of the two methods that I
described, you can customize the look of your computer a little more by tweaking the visual
style. One thing that I always like to customize after I change the visual style is the title bar
height. You can easily do so by changing the window metrics:
1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties.
2. Then, click the Advanced button on the Appearance tab.
3. Click either the active or inactive title bar of the preview image and then adjust the Size
setting next to the Item drop-down box.
4. While you are changing the size, you might want to also customize the fonts. You can do
so by clicking the text for which you want to change the font, and then selecting the font.
5. Click OK to save your changes.
6. Click OK once more to close Display Properties and activate the new changes.

Customizing the way a visual style looks is always refreshing. Usually when you install any sys-
tem, you find a few things that you wish were just a little different. Now you know how to
refine your desktop to look its best.

Making your own visual styles
You now know how to install and use custom-made visual styles, but did you ever wonder how
other people make visual styles? This next section will take you through the process of creating
your own visual style as well as the history of how people started making them.
It all began before people could actually use the visual styles. Curious users snooping around
their Windows XP files discovered that Windows XP had a skinning engine just like many
other applications that had the whole look of the operating stores in a file on the hard drive in
the themes folder called luna.msstyles. This file contains all of the data for the new
Windows XP look.
Then, just as with the boot and logon screens, people started to use resource hacking tools such
as Resource Hacker to open up luna.msstyles and replace the bitmaps stored within the
file with image files they made. Additionally, you could use programs like Resource Hacker to
edit the settings files stored within the visual style as well to edit all of the sizes of the different
Windows components.
The possibilities that applications such as Resource Hacker gave users were unlimited, except
for the fact that there still was no way to test and use the new user-made visual styles because
they were not digitally signed by Microsoft. Eventually, that all changed, as you know from the
last few sections, and users were able to use their own visual styles.
Now there are several different ways that you can make your own visual style. You can use the
Resource Hacker approach and manually open up your luna.msstyles file and replace
bitmaps in the file with ones you made yourself. This process can be a very long and difficult
one when you are trying to design a completely different visual style. This method would really
only make sense to use if you just wanted to replace one part of a visual style, such as the green Start button.

If for some reason you just don’t like the green Start button, then you can open up the file in
Resource Hacker and look for the bitmap on which to work. First, you will probably want to
extract the bitmap from the file so that you can work on it in your favorite image editing
program. Then, once you are finished, just replace the bitmap in the file with your modified
version. Hit Save As, give the file a new name, and you are finished once you create a new
folder for the name of the visual style.
If you want to make a completely new visual style with a new look or modify an existing one
beyond changing one little component, then using a commercial editor is a must. TGT Soft,
the company that brought you Style XP and the first patch for the visual style engine, has come
out with an editor known as StyleBuilder.
StyleBuilder is an amazing program that TGT Soft created after they found out how the visual
style file was compiled. It provides the user with an easy-to-use visual front for editing the
visual style files. Instead of using a resource hacker and searching for a specific bitmap to
replace, you can just navigate through the menus and click the object that you want to replace
within the editor. This saves a lot of time and makes it feasible to create a whole visual style
from scratch.
To get started, download a copy of StyleBuilder from TGT Soft’s Web site, located at
www.tgtsoft.com/download.php. Sometimes, the best way to learn something is to start
by modifying a visual style. Once you download and install a copy of StyleBuilder, perform the
following steps to learn how to import an existing visual style, make changes to it, and then
save it for use on your computer and distribution on the Internet:

1. Start up StyleBuilder by navigating though the TGT Soft folder in the Start Menu and
selecting StyleBuilder.
2. Say that you’d like to import the iBar 4 visual style that you use on your computer and
want to make some changes to it. When StyleBuilder is starting up, click the File
Menubar item and select the Import .msstyle file.
3. Next, you will have to fill in the two boxes on the import window. Specify the .msstyles
file of the visual style that you want to import to modify. Then specify the folder that you
want all of the settings and images to be extracted to so that StyleBuilder can edit the
files.
4. When you are finished filling in the two boxes, hit the OK button to start the import
process.
5. After a few seconds, the import should be done and you will be notified if the import has
been successful or not. If it has, you will have the option to open up the newly created
StyleBuilder files to edit the visual style. Click the Yes button so that you can edit the
files.
6. StyleBuilder will now open up the imported visual style for editing. First, get familiar
with the interface. Figure 4-10 is what the StyleBuilder interface looks like when you

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Installing new visual styles

Currently, you can use new visual styles on XP in two different ways. Both options work
around the requirement that visual style files must be signed. First, I am going to explain
how to use, as well as the benefits of using, TGT Soft’s Style XP to use new visual styles.
Then, I am going to show you how to use patcher XP as well as the benefits of using it. But
first, I am going to show you where to download visual styles that can be used on your
computer.

Downloading visual styles
Many cool sites on the Web offer thousands of visual styles to download. Unlike boot and logon screens, you do not need to worry about the version of a visual style because they are not system-critical files and their format does not change when service packs are released. This capability makes downloading them even easier, because you don’t have to worry about screw- ing up your computer.

Check out the following list of my favorite sites from which to download visual styles. I think you will find them very helpful. ThemeXP.org (www.themexp.org) offers well over 1,100 visual styles for Windows XP. It is, by far, the leader in the XP visual style world. XPTheme (www.xptheme.info) offers over 300 visual styles. NeoWin (www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum 36) offers a great theme forum that has a lot of quality visual styles. deviantART (browse.deviantart.com/skins/windows/visualstyle/) is another good site for visual styles that has an easy to use navigation system that shows 24 thumbnails of visual styles at once. TSS2000 (www.tss2000.nl) is a great site from which to get quality visual styles. Although they require you to register on their site to download a visual style, this requirement is worth it. They also have a large collection of Apple OS X-looking visual styles.


I personally like the look of the Apple OS X visual styles but do not like trying to make my PC look like a Mac. My favorite visual style is called iBar 4 set on the WinFlag color scheme, which is shown in Figure 4-6. It is a nice blend between the OS X look and a Windows visual style. The iBar 4 visual style can be downloaded from www.deviantart.com/deviation/ 4650418/. Many more sites are available from which you can download visual styles, but the sites mentioned previously will give you plenty of styles, more than you are likely to ever go through or use. Once you have downloaded a few visual styles that you would like to use from the Web, you are ready to extract them and place them in the appropriate place on your hard drive.

Windows stores the default Windows XP-style visual style at C:\Windows\Resources\ Themes on your hard drive. This is also where you should extract all of your visual styles that you downloaded inside a folder that has the same name as the .msstyles file. If the folder is not named correctly, Windows XP may not recognize the visual style. Also, you will find that when you extract some ZIP files where there was a visual style, there may be a folder called shell. This folder contains other visual style data and should be put in the same folder as the visual style file. If you also have a .theme file included with the visual style download, you should place that in the themes folder instead of inside the visual style folder. When you have finished installing all the visual styles that you have downloaded to the themes folder, you are ready to set up your computer so that you can use the visual styles. The next two sections will show you how to install them using the two different approaches already mentioned:using the shareware Style XP and using freeware patches such as UXTheme Multi-Patcher.

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modify visual style

Windows XP includes a new skinning engine built into the operating system, which it uses to display its own skin format, known as visual styles. Visual styles are responsible for transform- ing the boring old Windows classic look into the colorful and visually pleasing Windows XP look. Unfortunately, Microsoft has decided to keep the format of visual styles secret and built the skinning engine to only accept Visual styles that are digitally signed by Microsoft. This decision puts a big roadblock in the path of creating your own visual styles. On top of that, Microsoft decided that they were not going to release any more visual styles, so we are all stuck with the default Windows XP look. This presented a problem to the Windows XP tweaking community. Everyone wanted to take advantage of the new visual styles engine that was built into Windows XP and create his or her own visual styles. When I first started to use Windows XP, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to create my own visual styles. I tried using Resource Hacker on the visual style file that came with Windows XP to replace the bitmaps inside the file. I was sure that this attempt would work, but when I tried to view the visual style in Display Properties, the rendering was very strange in the Preview window, and when I tried to apply it, the computer would revert to the classic Windows interface. After spending some time browsing the Web and reading forums, I found out that the reason why my new visual style was not working was because the file was not digitally signed by Microsoft. Apparently, even if you modify a file that was signed by Microsoft, the signature is broken because the checksum of the file changed when you replaced the bitmaps.

What would be the next step?
Well there were two options: either try to fake a digital signature
on the theme file or just remove the digital signature requirement from the visual style engine.
Faking a digital signature is very difficult, if not impossible, so removing the digital signature
requirement was the only plausible choice. This was the limit of my skills. I had no clue how to
remove the requirement other than opening the file up in the hex editor and starting to delete
random bytes.

Thankfully, someone else figured it out. A company called TGT Soft (www.tgtsoft.com) released a program called Style XP, as well as a free patch that you could use. All you would have to do is run the patcher on your computer and let it go loose on your uxtheme.dll file, which is the heart of the visual style engine, and it would remove the digital signature require- ment. You’ll soon learn how to use the Style XP shareware for making lots of interesting changes, in the section entitled Installing New Visual Styles. The development of Style XP and its runaround of the Windows XP signatures created shock- waves in the skinning community. It would now be possible to use different visual styles to take advantage of the new skinning engine. Sites such as ThemeXP.org sprung up, offering hun- dreds of visual styles that XP users all over the world made. Everyone was happy, except for Microsoft. Eventually, TGT Soft found itself in a little trouble when Microsoft found out that they released a program that bypassed the requirement. Microsoft could have blown this company out of the water, but they were very generous and allowed TGT Soft to continue to develop its product and helped them write a service that ran in the background so that they would no longer have to hack the system file. Nowadays things have changed a little bit. TGT Soft still offers its Style XP application that can be used to unsign visual styles, but it is still shareware. Thankfully, there is an application called the UXTheme Multi-Patcher, which will patch the skinning engine just like the old TGT Soft patch. More will be discussed about the patchers shortly, in the section entitled Using UXTheme Multi-Patcher to enable use of non-Microsoft Visual styles.


It is a little unclear what Microsoft thinks about users of Windows XP bypassing its digital signa-
ture requirement for the visual style engine, using applications such as UXTheme Multi-Patcher.
Taking a look at the whole situation, they really do not have a reason to be upset because it is
not like the Multi-Patcher is contributing to software piracy. Additionally, the ability to use thousands of visual styles available on the Web with the fast native visual style engine is a great reason to upgrade to Windows XP. From a marketing standpoint, Microsoft should just forget about the stupid protection. It would make users of Windows XP happier because they would be able to customize their computers easier.

So, you’ve now learned a brief history of how one of the best new features of Windows XP
became unlocked. These next few sections will show you how to install and use new visual
styles on your computer to completely transform the way the user interface looks.

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Working with Themes

Working with Themes
Themes have been a part of Windows for a very long time. Ever since Windows 95 was released, themes made it possible to save the configuration of the fonts, colors, visual style, wallpaper, mouse cursors, and even the sounds that are used. Throughout the years, not a lot has changed in the theme world. Originally, you had to have Microsoft Plus to use themes, but now, the ability to use themes is included in all of the latest Microsoft operating systems. Additionally, when themes were first developed, they did not keep track of visual styles, just because they didn’t exist. Now, the theme format has expanded to allow for the new Windows feature.


Why are themes still important to talk about even though they have been around so long?
Because they provide a unique way to save all of your computer’s visual settings as well as audio settings so that you can easily change all of them at once. You don’t have to customize each of the different elements of the windows such as the font and colors every time you use them.Themes make your life easier. These next few sections are going to show you how you can use themes and make your own so that you too can benefit from the convenience they offer. Changing the current theme When you install Windows XP, Microsoft includes two themes: Windows XP and the Windows Classic theme. By changing the themes, you can turn on and off the new Windows XP look. Also, remember that you can make your own themes, which I will get to in the next section, so that you can easily switch between your own theme sets. When you do so, after you spend time customizing the look of XP, making changes to window metrics, sounds, visual style, cursors, wallpaper and so on, they can be saved to a theme file so that you will never lose your changes. Changing the themes is actually pretty simple. It is all done through the Display Properties Control Panel applet. To change themes, follow these steps: 1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties. 2. Display Properties will then load and will be displaying the Themes tab. 3. Next, just expand the drop-down box under Theme, as shown in Figure 4-1, and select the theme that you want to use. 4. When you have selected the theme, click OK to save your changes.

Once you have hit the OK button, the new theme will be applied. This process may take a few seconds while the changes are being made. Now that you know how to change a theme, it is time to make your own.

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Removing the text below the icons

Removing the text below the icons
Icons and text always go together. Every single icon on your desktop has to have a label below it. If you have a lot of icons on your desktop, the text under the icon is very valuable. However, if you have few icons on your desktop, you can get away with just using the icons alone. Doing so will result in a much cleaner interface. Amazingly, your desktop will look much simpler and cleaner without the labels below the icons. How is it possible not to display the text? Well, it is actually just a trick. You are not really removing the text under the icons. Instead, you are replacing the name of the icon with some characters that the computer will not display. Renaming the icons would be very easy if all that was involved was clicking the name and pressing the spacebar a few times. Unfortunately, that is not the case, because Windows does not allow you to enter in a space with the spacebar. Instead, you can use the ASCII code for a space. Every character that is used in the computer is stored in the PC as a code for a character. For example, the ASCII code for an s is 0115, the ASCII code for a copyright sign is 0169, and so on. You will be interested in the ASCII code

let’s rename some files. 1. Start with the first icon that you want to rename: right-click it and select Rename. 2. Select all of the text, and erase it with the Backspace key. 3. Now, enter in the ASCII code for the space, so make sure your Numlock is on, and just press and hold the Alt key while typing in 0 1 6 0 on the numpad on the right of the keyboard. 4. When you have finished typing in 0 1 6 0, let go of the Alt key and the blank space will be inserted. 5. Then, just press Enter to save the new name. If you want to remove the text of multiple icons, then you will have a problem with the instruc- tions because each shortcut or item must still have a unique name. One easy workaround is to enter in the ASCII code as the previous directions indicate, and then add a space using the spacebar after it. The first icons will have the ASCII space code + one space, the second icon will have the ASCII space code + two spaces, and so on.

Removing the text below the icons also allows you to do some fun things with the placement of your icons. Try removing the name of several icons. Then, turn on large icons, if you have not already done so, and line them up just above the taskbar, as shown in Figure 3-5. This will give you a setup that is similar to the bar on Apple’s OS X. Although your icons won’t be animated and bounce around, you will be able to set up your interface so that it looks like the OS X setup.

Renaming the Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin is a great feature of Windows, but it is very difficult to customize the name. Unlike other system icons on the desktop, you cannot just right-click it and select Rename. The only way to rename the Recycle Bin is to hack the Registry. This is not as simple as the method for the other icons, but you can easily get through it. To get started, let’s assume that you want to rename the Recycle Bin as Trash Compactor: 1. Click the Start button and select Run. 2. Then type regedit in the box and click OK. 3. When the Registry Editor is started, you will want to expand the HKEY_CURRENT _USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Explorer, CLSID, and {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} folders.

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Customizing Desktop Icons

Customizing Desktop Icons
The first time I started up Windows XP, I was shocked to find only theRecycle Bin icon on the desktop. Where were the rest of the icons? Did the install screw up? Microsoft is starting to transition away from the desktop that we are all used to with previous versions of Windows. With the introduction of the Start panel, the same icons on the desktop are just not needed. Now, the desktop looks much cleaner and more visually appealing because there are not 50 icons on the screen blocking your view of the wallpaper.

I have to admit, I like the clean interface, but I miss some of the icons that used to be on the desktop. Thankfully, you can do a number of different things to customize the desktop to bring back some of the old icons and also customize them so that you can preserve the clean look while restoring functionality. The next several sections will show you how you can get your desktop looking the way you want it to by taking advantage of hidden features and tricks.

Removing all icons from the desktop
No matter how hard I try, I always end up with a lot of junk on my desktop. From programs that I download and documents that I was too lazy to save elsewhere as well as new program links that seem to pop up from nowhere, there is never an end to the war that I fight with my desktop to keep it clutter-free. I like to be able to see my desktop wallpaper and not have my view of the wallpaper blocked by useless icons. One great way to win the never-ending desktop war is to just disable the desktop’s ability to show the icons and instead place the most common desktop icons, such as My Computer and the Recycle Bin, on the Quick Launch bar. Disabling the icons on the desktop is actually a very simple task. Most people never know about this feature, because it is placed where you would really never expect it. To get started, just right-click Desktop. Then expand Arrange Icons By and select Show Desktop Icons to unselect it. After a few seconds, the icons will disappear. Don’t worry, the icons and folder on your desktop were not deleted. If you ever want to turn the icons back on, just repeat the preceding steps once more. This is a very simple way to quickly clean up the desktop. It’s sort of like sweeping the dirt under a rug. The desktop clutter is still there, but you just can’t see it. Customizing the icon drop shadow effect One cool new feature of Windows XP is the Use Drop Shadows for Icon Labels on the Desktop. This new effect really makes the icons stand out from your wallpaper and makes them much easier to read when you are using a background, such as a photo, that has both light and dark spots. Unfortunately, depending on your computer’s hardware configuration, you may or may not be able to experience this cool new effect. If you have a newer computer that has an average graphics card, you will have no problem using this feature. But if you have an older graphics card, then you may be out of luck.


The Use Drop Shadows for Icon Labels on the Desktop can be turned on or off. Depending on the wallpaper that you are using, you may like or dislike the feature. I really like the new effect, but if you like having a clean and crisp interface, I recommend disabling the effect. Follow these steps to turn the feature on or off:
1. Click the Start button, and select Run. 2. Key in sysdm.cpl and click OK to launch system properties. 3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click the Settings button under the Performance section. 4. While on the Visual Effects tab, scroll down to the bottom of the box. 5. Locate Use Drop Shadows for Icon Labels on the Desktop, as shown in Figure 3-1, and check or uncheck the value, depending on what you would like to do. 6. Click OK to save your changes. 7. Click OK once more to close the System Properties window.

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Customizing the Taskbar

Customizing the Taskbar
The Windows XP taskbar has many new features, such as the ability to group programs and the new system tray that automatically hides icons that are not active. On top of these new features, there were enhancements such as new animations and graphical refinements that make the taskbar look so much better. The taskbar normally is used to switch between active programs and provides some system information, such as the current time and other system events in the system try. Now it can beused for so much more, as you will see in the next few sections.

Using and adjusting program grouping
The program grouping feature can be very useful, or it can be an annoyance. When you have more than just a few programs open, the taskbar can become cluttered. To fight this, as the taskbar fills up, programs that have more than one window open are grouped together. If you have a bunch of Internet Explorer windows open, they will all be grouped together into one entry on the taskbar. Then, if you want to switch between them or close one, you have to select the entry on the taskbar and a new menu will pop up showing you all of the different windows open for the specific application.

One great feature of grouping is it gives you the ability to close several windows at once. When all of the Internet Explorer windows are grouped together, you can just right-click the entry on the taskbar and select Close Group. Doing so will automatically close all of the browser win- dows at once.

The downside to this is it takes an extra step to navigate through the grouped program items. Some people do not like this option very much and would rather have a taskbar that is more cluttered, because they will be able to switch between programs faster. You can do a number of different things to customize this feature. Using a program called Tweak UI, which is a PowerToy released by Microsoft for Windows XP, you can easily change the behavior of how programs are grouped. But first, I am going to show you how to enable program grouping, if it is not set up on your computer. You’ll also find out how to disable it, if you do not like it. Follow these steps to enable/disable program grouping:

1. Right-click a blank part of the taskbar and select Properties. 2. This will bring up the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window that you used previ- ously. This time, you are going to be concerned with what is on the Taskbar tab. Locate the Group Similar Taskbar Buttons item in the taskbar appearance section. 3. Check the box to enable this feature and uncheck to disable. 4. Click OK to save your changes. Now that you have the feature turned on, you are ready to use Tweak UI to customize the way it behaves. First, download a copy of Tweak UI from Microsoft’s PowerToys Web site, located at www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp. Make sure that you download the normal version of Tweak UI and not the version for Itanium-based sys- tems unless you have a 64-bit system.

When you have Tweak UI installed, follow these steps: 1. Launch Tweak UI by clicking the Start button, selecting All Programs, and then PowerToys for Windows XP. 2. When Tweak UI is started, expand Taskbar and Start Menu and select Grouping. 3. You will be shown three different options that determine the behavior of the grouping feature. Group Least Used Applications First will group the applications that are the oldest on the taskbar and have more than one window open. Group Applications With The Most Windows First will just group programs that have the most windows open when the taskbar starts to become cluttered. Group Any Application With At Least X Windows is the setting that gives you the most control over grouping. Select this behav- ior and then enter the number of windows an application must have open before they are grouped. I personally prefer this feature and set it to a value of 4 so that when I have a lot of Internet Explorer windows open, I can still switch between them quickly when I have a few open, but it groups them when I have a lot open so my taskbar is not all cluttered. 4. Once you have selected the behavior you prefer, click the OK button on the bottom of the window to save your changes. Once you log off and back on or reboot, your changes will be active.

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Hiding programs from appearing in the Start panel

Hiding programs from appearing in the Start panel
So you have a top-secret program that you do not want anyone else to know you have. Every
time you run a program on your computer, Windows XP keeps track of it and will place it on
your frequently run programs list as a convenience to you. Sometimes, this feature is not always
a convenience and is, instead, like a chronic medical problem that will not go away.
For example, let’s use the situation of a guy named Larry. Larry plays Solitaire all the time on
his computer when he is at work. It is not the best game, but it will help him pass time and it’s
a great alternative to actually doing work. Every time Larry plays Solitaire, Windows XP auto-
matically puts the game into the frequently run programs list. This tracking is a problem for
Larry because he is concerned that one of his fellow employees might see the program on the
list and report him. What should he do? First, Larry should buy a copy of Hacking Windows
XP and then he should follow these steps:

1. Click the Start Menu and select Run. Type in regedit and click OK to start up the Registry Editor. 2. Next, expand the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder. 3. Search through the list of folders until he finds the folder called Applications and expand that as well. 4. Now he will see a list of every executable file for the programs installed on his computer. To hide a program from the frequently run programs list, he will want to expand the folder that is the executable for the program. To hide Solitaire, he will want to expand the sol.exe folder.

If you do not know the name of the executable file that a program shortcut points to, you can easily look this up by right-clicking the shortcut and selecting Properties. In the Properties box, you will see a full path to where the file is located as well as the name of the file. When you right-click the shortcut in the Start Menu for Solitaire, you will discover that the name of the executable for the game is sol.exe.


5. Can’t find a folder called sol.exe? That’s because some Windows applications are not listed. If his application was listed, he needs to skip this step. Otherwise, he will need to create a folder. To do so, he selects the Applications folder with the mouse. Then he right-clicks and selects New and then Select Key. Then he types in the name of the exe- cutable for the name of the key. For Solitaire, he will want to name the key sol.exe. 6. Now that he has found the folder for the application or has created one, he expands it so that he can see all of its values. Then, he right-clicks the executable’s folder that he just created or found in the registry. Select New and then select String. Next, he types in NoStartPage as the name of the string variable. 7. He closes the Registry Editor and logs off and then back in. He will never see Solitaire in his frequently run programs list again. Now Larry can play as much Solitaire at work as he wants without having to worry about it showing up in his frequently run programs list. Don’t get too confident after completing this hack. Remember, people can still look over your shoulder and see your computer screen. To solve that problem, I recommend using a cardboard box to build a shelter over your cubicle to block spying eyes. This will also limit the number of people that can ask you questions, which will allow you to better concentrate on your game of Solitaire.

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Adding and removing navigation icons

Adding and removing navigation icons
Many icons on the new Start panel will help you navigate through Windows in a way you
have never done before. All of the icons that are displayed can be customized to fit your
needs so that you can have one-click access to several different parts of your computer. Icons
such as My Computer, My Music, Network Connections, and many more are now placed
right on the Start panel. Windows XP gives you the capability to add even more.
Additionally, these icons can be transformed into pop-up menus that expand and show the
details. For example, instead of just displaying the My Computer icon, when you move your
mouse over the icon, it can pop up a menu that will display shortcuts to each of the separate
drives on your computer.

These new features allow you to be much more efficient when working with your computer.
You can save yourself a lot of time by enabling the auto-expanding pop-up menu feature on
many of the utility icons such as Control Panel. This way, you can have access to all of your
Control Panel applets with just one click on the Start Menu.
Windows XP makes it possible to edit most of the navigation icons right from within the user
interface so you don’t have to worry about hacking the registry in this section. To get started,
follow these steps:

. Right-click the Start button and select Properties, as shown in Figure 2-4.
2. You should now see the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window. Next, click the top
Customize button, and the Start Menu settings will load.
3. The Customize Start Menu is where you can change many aspects of the Start panel; for
now, click the Advanced tab. You will learn about some of the items on the General tab
in the next few sections.
4. Once you have the Advanced tab displayed, you will see the Start Menu items scroll box.
In this box you will see a list of all of the different features for the icons that can be dis-
played on the Start panel. Table 2-2 lists in detail all of the different features and their
separate options. For demonstration purposes, let’s make the My Computer icon expand
automatically to show all of the drives. Scroll down in the box until you see the My
Computer title.
5. Then select the Display as a Menu option, as shown in Figure 2-5, to enable the Auto
Expand feature.
6. Click OK twice, and your change is now complete.

As you can see, making changes to the items on the Start panel is quite simple. Take a look at
Table 2-2 for more information on all of the navigation icons that you can customize with the
method just described.

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customize startup

The Start panel is what I call the new replacement for the traditional Start Menu that we are all familiar with from using previous versions of Windows. I call this the Start panel because it is not just a menu anymore. It is now a collection of various links and features all thrown onto one panel that pops up. It offers many new features, such as a dynamic list that places your most frequently run programs on the panel so that you can easily access them without having to navigate throughout the entire program listings. Additionally, the Start panel has replaced all of the icons on the desktop except for the Recycle Bin so that your desktop will look much cleaner and uncluttered. Different tools and hacks are available that will allow you to customize the Start panel. Almost everything on it is customizable. You can add and remove items that are displayed, and you can even change the way it looks.

Customizing Your System
the many different options available, you can customize the way that different parts of the panel works. For example, you can change the number of frequently run programs that are displayed. When you have finished reading these next few sections, you will have transformed your Start panel into something that is even more useful for your everyday tasks.

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The problems of changing the boot screen

The problems of changing the boot screen
If you download a hacked system file with a new boot screen and replace the old file on your
computer, after you restart, you may find that your computer will not start and will give you a
nice error message. “C:\Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe is missing or corrupt.” Missing or
corrupt? Uh-oh. This is the most common problem that users experience when trying to
change their boot screen using the file swap technique.

User that get this message, or any similar error message, are receiving it because they replaced their system file with a file that is not compatible with their version of Windows XP. Windows XP was released in many different languages for different parts of the world. Each language version of XP has a slightly different version of code. Additionally, Microsoft continuously releases software update patches to update the code of the system files such as the monthly security updates and almost yearly service packs. All of these factors result in several different versions of the boot screen system file floating around on the Web.

You could find a boot screen file that was made from a hacked system file from the German version of Windows XP. Or more commonly, you could find a boot screen that was made from a hacked file from the original version of Windows XP. When you try to install that boot screen on a computer that, for example, has Service Pack 2 installed on the English version of XP, you will have problems. Windows XP will only work with a specific version of the system file that contains the boot screen. This arrangement complicates the change of the boot screen with the common file swap technique. It will do so because users will have difficulty telling on what version of Windows XP a particular boot screen that is distributed on the Web will work. Users have to be aware of more than just the version problem. Because you are downloading a hacked version of a critical system file that is executed during the boot sequence, you could possibly download a version that someone modified and in which he or she put some variation of malicious code that could harm your computer. Read the next section to find out how to change your boot screen safely.

How to safely change your boot screen
Check out the following ways to change your boot screen by using special tools that will allow you to do it safely.


Several different boot-screen-changing programs are available on the Web. Some of these pro- grams are shareware and others are freeware. I have used them all. Not all of them have been user-friendly, and some of them have been an out-and-out pain. The one I prefer to use is BootSkin by Stardock, which also happens to be free. This program is by far the easiest and safest one to use to change the boot screen. Instead of replacing the system file, it just installs a special driver that skins the boot. This arrangement does not impact system performance and is a nice alternative to having to deal with system files. You can get a copy of this cool app from the companion CD in the Chapter 1 folder or on the Web at www.bootskin.com.

The BootSkin app is a great piece of software, but it does not do everything. Currently, it does not allow you to use the thousands of boot screens already made that are posted all over the Web. It will only allow you to run boot screens that were made especially for the program. True, hundreds of boot screens are available for this application, but thousands of hacked system files are out there. Because of this limitation, I have decided to show you all how to convert these hacked system file boot screens into safe BootSkin files. But first, let’s get started using the app.

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Customizing the Look of the Startup

Windows XP has a great new look, but after a while, the new look can get old. With the help of some cool tools and tricks, you can change many parts of Windows XP.This chapter will guide you through customizing two parts of your computer, the boot screen and the Welcome/logon screen. You will learn how to replace the boring boot screen with premade screens and even how to make some of your own.

Then, this chapter will move on to customizing the second part of your computer startup, the Welcome/logon screen. This screen can be customized in several ways, such as selecting to use the new Welcome screen or the old Windows 2000 style logon screen. Also, there are a handful of different hacks that will help you customize each screen and make it look even better. Would you like to replace the Welcome screen with a screen you made yourself? You will also learn how to replace the Welcome screen and how to make one of your own.
in this chapter
Changing the Boot Screen
Making Your Own Boot Screen
Changing the Welcome Screen
Making Your Own Welcome Screen
Customizing the Logon Screen
Customizing the Windows XP Boot Screen

Every time I turn on my computer, I am forced to stare at the boringWindows XP boot screen. Although, I must admit, I found the moving blue bars very amusing at first, after a few months, I became bored and wanted something different. Although changing the boot screen is not a
feature that the Windows XP team at Microsoft has built into Windows, doing so is still possible.

Changing the boot screen
The image that is displayed during the boot is hidden away in a system file called ntoskrnl.exe. This system file is loaded during the system boot and is what displays the boot image and animation.

Customizing Your System
When users first started to make their own boot screens, they would use resource hacking tools to hack into the file and replace the old Windows XP bitmap image file with one that they
made. Then, they would swap the old system file with the hacked version of the system file so
that the new boot screen would be displayed.
The majority of users do not start off by making their own boot screen. Instead, they download
one that someone else made from the Web. Unfortunately, the only way to distribute a boot
screen is to share the system file that the author has hacked from his or her system. This
method of distributing boot screens works for some people, but it may cause serious problems
for the majority of users.

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