How to rename the Start button in XP

You can change the name of the Start button in XP. Simply hexedit the explorer.exe file, which is placed in Windows. Here you have to look for the following offset values:

Windows XP (Enhanced Start Menu)
Offset: 0x000412B6 – 0x000412BE

Windows XP (Classic Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004158A – 0x00041592

Windows XP SP1 (Enhanced Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004208E – 0x00042096

Windows XP SP1 (Classic Start Menu)
Offset: 0x0004259A – 0x000425A2

start will be just before this:

There was an internal error and one of the windows you were using has been closed.

Now rename start to another five letter word of your choice like Begyn

Save the modified file to a new file or rename the old file first, before deleting/overwriting it.

It is always a good idé to have a backup before changing anything 😉

If you did choose to give it a new name, then you have to change the registry. Open up regedit and find the key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

Here you have to change the value for Shell, so that it fits you new explorer file.

Reboot and then you have a new name on your start button 🙂 Alternativ is to kill explorer.exe in taskmanger and then start you new explorer.exe afterwards. If the new one is not running – then you can always replace it with the old one – and every thing is back to normally again 😉