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Hard Hat Area

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Hard Hat Area

November 2005 Vol.5 Issue 11
Page(s) 37-39 in print issue

Hardware Be Gone!
Mod Your Software Instead
With the holiday season rapidly approaching, this issue of CPU is jammed with the latest and
greatest PC gear available. Due to the abundance of hardware coverage, we thought we would
take this portion of Hard Hat Area in a different direction this month. We still have a few tasty
mods for you, but these wont require a single tool to complete. In lieu of a featured hardware
mod this month, we have a couple of Windows XP software-related mods that can be as
effective as a hardware mod at giving your rig a personal touch.
Create A Custom Start Button

Are you as tired as

we are of looking at
the plain, old default
Start button? If so,
then it's time for a
change.

It has been about four years since Windows XP was released,

and in those years, most WinXP users have resigned
themselves to staring at the same old Start button. It's not that
there is anything particularly wrong with the button. In fact,
"Start" is a logical label for the button, but enough is enough
already. When equipped with the right utility, modifying the start
button to say almost anything you want takes nothing more than
a few minutes and a little courage.

After saving our

changes and
relaunching
Explorer.exe, our new
custom CPU
Magazine Start button
was available. You'll
notice that you can
use more than five
characters, and that
the Start button will

Step 1. Before we explain just

how to complete this mod, we
need to make the standard
disclaimer: Anytime you alter a
critical system file, you run the
risk of introducing a catastrophic
failure. So, before making a
single mouse click, back up all
your data and read this entire
article first.

To begin this mod, youll need to

alter a few key settings and
download the free Resource
Hacker utility, which you can find
at
www.angusj.com/resourcehacker
Resource Hacker has been
available for quite awhile, but age
has done nothing to diminish the
usefulness of this handy, little
application, which can view, modify, rename, add, delete, and extract resources in 32-bit

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Windows executables
and resource files.
stretch accordingly.
Resource Hacker also
incorporates an internal
script compiler and decompiler and works on all versions of Windows from Windows 95
through WinXP. Well be using the application to alter a few strings in the Explorer.exe
file.
After youve downloaded and extracted Resource Hacker, the next step is to unhide
WinXPs hidden files and protected operating system files. In My Computer click the
Tools menu and click Folder Options. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View
tab. In the Advanced Settings section, look for the Hidden Files And Folders section.
Click the Show Hidden Files And Folders radio button and remove the check mark for
the Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended) option. Click OK to close
the Folder Options dialog box.
Step 2. The next step in this mod is to remove
Explorer.exe from WinXPs built-in file protection
mechanism. If you dont do this, as soon as you modify the
file, Windows will replace it with a known good backup
copy and reset the mod. Before removing the protection,
though, make a backup copy of Explorer.exe and store it
in a safe location as a precaution. Explorer.exe should be
located in your Windows directory, normally
C:\WINDOWS.
To remove Explorer.exe from WinXPs File Protection,
browse to your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\RESTORE
folder and locate a file named Filelist.xml. Right-click the
Filelist.xml file and select Properties from the context
menu. At the bottom of the resulting dialog box, remove
the check mark for the Read-only option and click OK.
Next, open Notepad and drag the Filelist.xml file into the
window. You should now see the files contents. Toward
the top of the files text, locate the <Exclude> tag. In this
section you need to add the following line:
You need to make
some hidden and
protected system
files visible before
you can complete
this mod.

<REC>%systemroot%\explorer.exe</REC>
You should see numerous other files listed in this section, as well. Make sure that the
syntax of the file youre adding is similar to those shown. Once you have added the line,
close Notepad and save the file. Now, right-click the Filelist.xml file again, select
Properties from the menu, and reset the files Read-only status.
Next, browse to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE folder. You should see a
backup copy of Explorer.exe. here. Rename this file to something similar to
Old_explorer.exe. This is the backup copy that the Windows File Protection mechanism
will use should it detect a problem with the original file.
Step 3. With the previous steps complete, we can now perform the actual mod. As a
precaution, disable or close any unnecessary applications or processes that are running
in the background on your system. Now launch Resource Hacker. With the program
running, open Task Manager. In the Task Manager window, click the Processes tab. In
the Image Name column, find Explorer.exe. Right-click the file and choose End Process
from the menu. A system warning will appear that states terminating a process can
cause undesired results. Click Yes to close the warning. With Explorer.exe terminated,
your Desktop and Start menu will disappear, but any applications that were running will
remain visible. This behavior is normal.

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From within the Resource Hacker window, click the File menu and click Open. Now
browse to your C:\WINDOWS folder and open Explorer.exe. Youll see a slew of items
listed in the hierarchy tree to the left. In the list find String Table and expand the section
by clicking the plus sign. Now find entries 37 and 38 and click the plus sign to expand
these items, as well. Within each item youll see another item labeled 1033. Click the
1033 item in entry 37, and in the section on the right, change the Start thats listed in
key number 578 to whatever you want the Start button to read. Now, click the Compile
Script button at the top of the Resource Hacker window. Follow the same procedure for
entry 38 and change the Start listed in key number 595 to the same text as you entered
for key 578. Now click the Compile Script button again, save your changes, and close
Resource Hacker. You may see a warning that states that Explorer was replaced with an
unrecognized version, but just click Cancel to ignore the warning.
Step 4. The only thing left to do now is admire your handy word. Open Task Manager
again, click the File menu, select New Task, and in the Open field type explorer and
press ENTER. The Windows shell will launch, and your new Start button should be
there.
A Customized Boot Screen

TGT Softs StyleXP

program can help you
modify many of
Windows XPs
attributes, including
boot screens,
themes, visual styles,
icon sets, and more,
in a number of ways.

Another one of WinXPs more mundane attributes is its

bland boot screen. However, you can alter the boot
screen, and fortunately, doing it is easier than altering
the Start button. To create your own boot screen, all you
need is a little imagination and a copy of TGT Softs
StyleXP. Unlike Resource Hacker, StyleXP isnt
freeware, but a 30-day trial version is available for
download at www.tgtsoft.com. In addition, the boot
screens that the trial version creates will remain active
after the trial period has expired. Heres how to perform
the mod.

Step 1. The first step to creating your own boot screen is

to unhide WinXPs hidden files and the protected
operating system files. We explained how to do this
previously in Step 1 of the Start button mod. Youll also
need to download and install a copy of StyleXP. Make
sure the version you download is 3.10 or later, as older versions lack a feature
necessary to convert standard bitmaps into a format usable by WinXP for a boot screen.

Heres a shot of the

humble CPU boot
screen that we
created with TGT
Softs StyleXP
application, complete
with the Sandhills
Publishing logo, in

Step 2. Now comes the hard part. Open Paint or the

image editing application you prefer and create a new
image thats 640 x 480. This is the image that will
eventually become your boot screen. You can create
whatever your heart desires here. Normally, youd have
to use a specific palette of colors and create a file of a
specific size to make a valid boot screen, but StyleXP will
handle the conversion, so you can be creative here. We
found that using a few colors and not having dithered
patterns worked best. Once youre happy with the image
that youve created, save it as a standard bitmap file. We
created a simple CPU boot screen as an example.
Step 3. Next, it is time to take a little precaution. Make
backup copies of the Boot.ini file that is located on the
root of your C: drive, and back up the Ntoskrnl.exe file
located in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder.
StyleXP will modify or replace these two files, and

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action. Also notice

the matching
progress bar.

although the program will create its own backups, it is

best to keep copies of these original files handy, as well.

StyleXPs Make
Bootscreen option
can convert a
Windows bitmap file
into a format thats
suitable for use as a
Windows XP boot
screen.

With those files backed up

and your 640 x 480 image
created, you can now use
StyleXP to convert and
insert your new boot
screen. Launch StyleXP
and click the Bootscreen
button in the menu on the
left. You will see a warning
that the Boot.ini file needs
to be modified. Click OK to
accept the default
modifications. Then click
the Make Bootscreen
button and browse to the
image file that you created
earlier and click OK.

This will take the image file

that you created earlier and
convert it into a format
thats useable by WinXP. We should note that at this point, you could also import a
custom progress bar, but this isnt necessary. StyleXP will color-match a progress bar
automatically to the image that you created, and unless you want to change the onscreen position of the progress bar, creating a new one isnt necessary.
At this point select your new boot screen from the menu within StyleXP and click the
Apply Bootscreen button. Your new boot screen will be created and placed in your
C:\WINDOWS\RESOURCES\BOOT folder. In a few moments a notification will greet
you, indicating that the boot screen will be available upon your next reboot. Click OK in
the notification window, close StyleXP, and restart your computer.
Step 4. Upon restarting your machine, you'll see a boot menu with what appears to be
the choice of two operating system installations. Select the first choice that's labeled
Microsoft Windows XP Professional (bootscreen) to launch Windows and witness your
new boot screen. Should everything function properly, you can then edit the Boot.ini file
to eliminate the boot menu and load WinXP without any user interaction. Simply open
Boot.ini in Notepad and change the value listed in timeout= to 0.
by Marco Chiappetta

Pentium 4 Reincarnation Mod:

Having Fun With A Dead CPU

All of us have taken a mod too far, and in the

process destroyed an otherwise useful piece of
hardware. Although we spend most of our time

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Even Gordon Moore

couldnt bring this
fried processor back
to life. However, with
a sharp drill bit and a
little elbow grease,
we made some use
out of our deceased
Pentium 4.

evaluating, modding, or otherwise tweaking PCs

on a daily basis, were not immune to the
occasional mistake. For example, a few hours
into an overzealous overclocking experiment, we
fastened a waterblock to our CPU but neglected
to check if it was making proper contact. It wasnt.
After jacking up the core voltage and increasing
the front side bus frequency by a few dozen
megahertz, it took all of a few seconds to fry the
processor. Poof!

You would have

thought that was
the end of that
processors
usefulness, but it
wasnt. A fried
CPU may no
longer be able to
power a gaming
This fried Pentium 4
rig, but it can still
may not be crunching
serve as a
numbers any longer,
conversation
but that doesnt mean
starter at the next
it isnt still useful.
LAN party or
geek-fest. All you
need is a drill, a
sharp bit capable of cutting metal, and a key ring and you have the makings of
the perfect key chain for a power user. We drilled a hole straight through the
dead processors heatspreader, fed a key ring through the hole, and voila. Dont
hide your modding mishaps
show them off for all to see.

Copyright 2006 Sandhills Publishing Company U.S.A. All rights reserved.

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