Every time you right-click My Computer and select Properties or click the System applet item in the Control Panel, you will be shown branding information on the general information screen of System Properties. This screen is usually customized by computer manufacturers to display their logo, as well as general information such as the model number and support notes.
If you would like to change this information or brand a PC that you made yourself, this section
will show you how to accomplish this in just a few easy steps. To get started, assume that your computer is not branded and that you are going to be doing this for the first time. If your com-puter was already branded, then instead of creating the files that I will mention, just replace them with your versions. Follow these steps to do branding of your own:
1.There are two parts to branding your computer. The first part is creating an image to be displayed on the System Properties General tab. The image must be a bitmap and be no larger than 180 115 pixels. Once you have created your file, name it oemlogo.bmp and save it in C:\Windows\System32 folder.
2.Now that you have to get the logo out of the way, you will need to create a file with all of the text that you want to appear on the screen next to it. To do this, open up Notepad and key in the following code. Feel free to replace the text to the right of the with anything you want.
[General]
ManufacturerStevePC ModelHighwaySpecial 18G [Support Information]
Line1No support is provided in English Line2Guaranteed to work for at least 5 days Line387% restocking fee for all returns
Line4Returns only accepted at Kuznetsk warehouse in Russia 3.Once you have your text in the right format, click the File menu bar item and select
Save As.
4.Save the file as oeminfo.iniin your C:\Windows\System32folder. Make sure to change the Save As file type to All Files instead of .txt so that the file is saved with the correct file extension.
A copy of the oeminfo.inifile can be found in the Chapter 6 folder on the book’s companion CD-ROM.
If everything went well, the next time you look at the System Properties screen, you should see your new branding information. Figure 6-13 is an example of what my branded screen looks like.
Branding IE
Internet Explorer is another part of the operating system that is often branded by computer manufacturers and Internet Service Providers. Not a lot can be done to brand Internet Explorer other than to add some text to the title bar of the browser. Back when dialup Internet was the only means of accessing the Net, I remember trying to figure out how to remove text that the dialup software distributed from providers such as CompuServe and Prodigy. Every time I would open up Internet Explorer, it would say Prodigy Online along with Microsoft Internet Explorer as the title of the window. Back then, the only solution for getting rid of the excess type was to manually hack the registry and fix the entry responsible for storing the name of the
window. Now a really great utility is available, called Rebrand, by Advent Code, that greatly sim-plifies the editing of the Internet Explorer window title. Follow these steps to edit your title bars:
1.Visit Advent Code’s Web site at www.adventcode.net/rebrand.htmland down-load a copy of Rebrand. Then, run the file and extract the files to your computer.
2.Start up Rebrand by browsing to the directory from which you extracted it and clicking on rebrand.exe.
3.To change the title of Internet Explorer, just type new text in the top box, as shown in Figure 6-14, and then click the Apply button to save your changes.
Once you are finished editing the title and have clicked the Apply button, you can close Rebrand. Your changes should take effect immediately.
FIGURE6-13: Creating your own branded system screen.
Rebrand also offers a few other features, such as the ability to change the title of Outlook Express and the ability to change toolbar backgrounds. The Outlook Express feature is cool, but I like using Tweak UI to change the backgrounds of toolbars.
Summary
So ends the customizing portion of Hacking Windows XP! You have seen many ways that you can completely change the way Windows XP looks from the moment you turn on your PC.
This chapter has focused on adding cool effects and features that will make Windows XP look high-tech, state-of-the-art, and visually attractive—a winning combination.
Part II of Hacking Windows XPis all about making your computer perform better than ever before. When I first started working with computers several years ago, I was always working
FIGURE6-14: Using Rebrand to change the title of the Internet Explorer window.
with the slowest and oldest hardware possible. I spent countless hours trying to figure out ways to make Windows run just a little bit faster on my POS machine. Even if I could just shave a few microseconds off of something, it would all add up in the end. Now that I can afford better hardware, speed is still something that I am very concerned about. Making Windows XP run as fast as possible is something that I have spent a great deal of time researching and testing.
This next part will help you, too, make your computer run like never before.
Chapter 7
Analyzing Your System
Chapter 8 Speeding Up the System Boot
Chapter 9
Making Your Computer Load Faster
Chapter 10
Making Your Computer More Responsive
Chapter 11 Speeding Up Your Computer