Customize Start Menu Components

Yes, we all know that your Start Menu is just a folder on your hard disk, and that you can customize most of the icons by simply moving, renaming, creating, or deleting shortcuts in that directory. However, what about the items that can't be changed, such as Help and Find? It can be done, but you should be aware that this solution is for advanced users only. Here's how it's done:

Customize the Start Menu labels:

1. Copy the file EXPLORER.EXE from your Windows directory to a temporary working directory.
2. Using a hex editor (like UltraEdit-32), open the copy of EXPLORER.EXE.
3. At the hex address 02C2A0, you'll see & P r o g r a m s (the characters are separated by null characters (#00), and not spaces - similar to the solution for Customize Start Menu Components)
4. If you replace each of the characters with spaces (hex #20), the labels will disappear entirely (see the next section for this concept taken to an extreme).
5. Save the changes, and exit to DOS. Backup the original file, and then replace it with your modified version. When you restart Windows, the change should take effect.

Note: If you have a different version (build) of Windows95, the addresses of these labels may be different.

Simplify the Start Menu (it's ironic that the solution is so complex):

1. Copy the file EXPLORER.EXE from your Windows directory to a temporary working directory.
2. Using a hex editor (like UltraEdit-32), open the copy of EXPLORER.EXE.
3. At the hex address 2C2C4, replace 50 00 72 00 6F 00 67 00 72 00 61 00 6D 00 73 with 53 00 74 00 61 00 72 00 74 00 75 00 70 00 20. (this changes the word "Programs" to "Startup," and is optional)
4. At the hex address 2C300, replace 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 with 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00.
5. At the hex address 2C310, replace all the characters until the address 2C41B with alternating 20 and 00.
6. At the hex address 2C420, replace 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 with 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00.
7. At the hex address 2C428, replace 00 00 00 00 F7 01 00 00 with 20 00 20 00 F7 01 20 00.
8. At the hex address 2C430, replace 00 with 20.
9. At the hex address 2C434, replace all the characters until the address 2C447 with alternating 20 and 00.
10. At the hex address 2C44A, replace 00 00 00 00 with 20 00 20 00.
11. At the hex address 2C450, replace 52 00 75 00 6E 00 2E 00 2E 00 2E 00 00 00 00 00 with 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00 20 00.
12. At the hex address 2C460, replace 00 with 20.
13. At the hex address 2C462, replace 00 00 00 00 00 00 with 20 00 20 00 20 00.
14. Save the changes, and exit to DOS. Backup the original file, and then replace it with your modified version. When you restart Windows, the change should take effect.

Note: All of these changes should only be performed on build 950

Note: Moving program groups as described above will cause Windows95 to forget keyboard shortcuts, meaning that they will need be "refreshed" manually - just open the properties sheet and then close it again for each shortcut.