How to Hack and change the Start Menu Button in Windows 7

Have you ever wanted to customize your operating system just to suit your style or even to show off in front of  your buddies. Well here is a small trick that lets you change and customize the windows 7 Orb start button to the icon you want it to be.

This trick involves just the basic hack of changing the icon of the start menu using a tool called Resource hacker which some of you might be familiar with. The trick goes through the steps of replacing the icon with your own preferred icon of your choice, which could be your symbol ,button with your sign etc.

So here are the steps to go through with the process.

Step 1 : Download and install the Resource Hacker tool using the link given.

Step 2 : Keep your buttons ready with the following properties

It must be a 54 x 128 .bmp image.

Order of buttons in image

First- Default Idle button view
Second- Button on Mouse Over
Third- Button when Clicked
eg:

Download My OrbButtonPack

Step 3 : Using the Resource Hacker Tool, open the Explorer.exe file located inside the C:\Windows folder as a administrator.

Step 4 : Expand the Bitmap->6801 folder tree.

Step 5 : Right click on the 1033 file and select Replace Resource and navigate to the target image and Click Replace using Open file with new bitmap option.

Step 6 : Repeat the steps 4 and 5 for the Subtrees  Bitmap->6805 and Bitmap->6809 folders.

Step 7 : GO to File->  Save and the resource Hacker will automatically generate a backup file called  Explorer_Original.exe if anything goes wrong.

Step 8 : Restart or log in again to view the changes to your start button.

Do share your feedback in the comment section below .Cheers

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