Renaming the Start Button in Windows XP

To rename the start button, you will need a hex editor.
My preference is UltraEdit

1. Copy the \windows\explore.exe file to a new name (e.g. explorer_1.exe)
2. With the hex editor, open that file and go to offset 412b6
3. You will see the word start with blanks between each letter
4. Edit it be any 5 characters or less
5. Save the file
6. Boot to DOS
7. Copy the existing c:\windows\explorer.exe to explorer.org
8. Copy explorer_1.exe to explorer.exe
9. You will also need to replace the explorer.exe in the c:\windows\system32\dllcache file as well with the new one.

Note: If the partition is NTFS and you can't access the files from DOS:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon.
3. Change the value of Shell from Explorer.exe to explorer_1.exe

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Hide/Unhide Logon Names in windows XP

If you want to hide or unhide the names of users that are displayed on the initial logon screen:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList
3. Add a DWORD with the name of the user account you want to hide
4. Make sure it has a value of 0
5. If there is an existing account, you can unhide it by giving it a value of 1

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Re-Enabling System Restore in Windows XP

If you previously disabled system restore through the Group Policy Editor,
the option to start it again does not show in the System Properties.
You can re-enable it again by:

1. Run the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
2. Go to Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / System Restore
3. Set Turn off System Restore and Turn off Configuration to Disable
4. Right click on My Computer
5. Select Manage
6. Go to Services and Applications / Services
7. Scroll down to System Restore Service
8. Set it for Automatic
9. Click on the Start button to start the service
10. Close down this window
11. Go back to the Group Policy Editor and configure both to Not configured
12. Now when you right click on My Computer, there should be a tab for System Restore and you can configure how much space will be used.

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Decreasing Boot Time in Windows XP

Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP
The program is called BootVis

 

1. Uncompress the file.
2. Run BOOTVIS.EXE
3. For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
4. This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
5. After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
6. Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)
7. Then run Trace / Optimize System
8. Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
9. Note how much the time has decreased
10. Mine went from approximately 39 to 30 seconds.

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Changing the Login Screen Saver in Window XP

If you want to change the screen saver that runs at the login prompt:

Start Regedit

 

1. Go to HK_USERS / .DEFAULT / Control Panel / Desktop
2. Double click on SCRNSAVE.EXE
3. Enter in the screen saver you want to use

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Allowing Network Access with Blank Passwords In Window XP

Although you can log in locally without a password, by default, WindowsXP Pro does not allow network users to access the computer without a password. Typically you will receive an Unknown error 31 if this is the case.

To change this setting:

1. Run gpedit.msc
2. Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options
3. Double click on Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only
4. Disable this option

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Adding SafeBoot to the Boot Menu in Window XP

You can add Safeboot as an option to the normal XP boot screen

1. Open a command prompt
2. Copy the current c:\boot.ini to another name (just in case)
3. With your favorite text editor, edit c:\boot.ini
4. Copy then edit the current boot line to another line. For example:
   multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect 
   might copy and then change to:
   multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Safeboot" /fastdetect
5. Start MSCONFIG
6. Click on the BOOT.INI tab
7. Highlight the second line with the additional name of Safeboot
8. Check the /SAFEBOOT box with option you want
   Minimal - Minimal set of drivers
   Network - With Network Support
   Dsrepair - Directory Services Repair
   Minimal (Alternate Shell) - Standard Explorer Desktop
9. You will now have this option every time you start XP

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