Change Text XP in 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]