Change the appearance of the Windows Start button. Changing the appearance of the Start button in Windows How to return the standard start in Windows 7

In Windows, you can change the design, themes, desktop background, screensavers and shortcuts. But you cannot change the design of the Start button through standard settings. It displays the Win logo by default. And what if you want to see a different image on the main menu? The only option is to use third party programs, since the OS itself does not provide the necessary tools. Find out how to change the Start button in Windows 7, what utilities are suitable for this, and how to use them.

The main menu picture is tied to the “Explorer.exe” system service (do not confuse it with the name of the browser). The new icon should not affect the operation of Win. But still this is a change in OS files. And it’s better to create a restore point. If something goes wrong, you can return the settings that were before installing the icon.

• Click the Start button.
• Go to "Control Panel".
• "System" menu in the "System and Personalization" category.
• Item "Additional parameters". He's on the right.
• System Protection tab.
• "Create" button.

Click on Create

• Come up with a name for the restore point.
• Wait while the current Windows configuration is saved. You can return to it in the future if critical errors occur.
• To make a backup, click the “Restore” button. It's in the "System Protection" menu. All available points will be there.

Administrator rights

To change the main menu icon, you need full access to Explorer.exe. This is the service responsible for the conductor. The file is located in the system root directory C:/Windows/. To edit it you need administrator rights.

• Go to this folder.
• Find "Explorer" and right-click on it.
• “Properties” item.
• Section "Security".
• Click the "Edit" button.

• In the “Permissions for the System group” field, set the value to “Full Control”.
• Click on "Apply".

You can also open administrative access to the file using the Takeownershipex program. Find it online, download, install and run. There will be two buttons: “Gain access” and “Restore access”. Click on the first one and specify the path to “Explorer”.

Just in case, create a backup copy of this file. Just copy it anywhere. If anything, you can change the edited version to the original one.

Where can I find the badges?

It’s better not to put the first art you like from your gallery on the “Start” button. Use images specifically designed for this purpose. They are already edited and have the appropriate format and size. They also specify the correct arrangement of objects. Suitable images can be downloaded from the 7themes website or oformlenie-windows.ru. Although there are a lot of resources with free icons.

Possible appearance of the Start button

The file with the icon must have a BMP extension (no background). Make sure that it has three options for icons: for a “regular” button, highlighted and pressed. Try hovering over the main menu. And you will see that it changes depending on what is done with it. Although no one forbids putting one picture for all “states”.

Start Button Changer is a utility through which you can load a new image for the main menu. It has a very simple interface. There are only two functions: setting an icon and resetting to original settings. Suitable for Win 7 only. The name of the program translates something like this: “Start Button Converter.” Here's how to use it:

• Find it on the Internet and download it. Just enter the query “Windows 7 Start Button Changer” in a search engine and select any site. It is better to download from resources that are on the first page in the search results.
• If the utility is in an archive, unpack it.
• There should be an executable file with the extension .EXE.
• Right-click on it.
• “On behalf of the administrator” item.

Start Button Changer window

• To change icons, click the “Select & Change” button.
• Specify the path to the icons.
• Click on “Open”.
• To restore the original settings, there is the “Restore Original” option.

Start Orb Changer for Windows 7

Here's how to change the Start icon on Windows 7 using Start Orb Changer

• Find it online and download it.
• Unpack it if it is in the archive.
• Run it as administrator.

• There will be three samples of icons: “Default” (not active), “Hover” (when selected - you need to move the cursor) and “Pressed” (pressed).
• To change them, click on “Change”.
• Specify the path to the graphic file.
• The “Restore” button resets the settings and returns the standard icon.

The application has advanced options. To open them, click on the small gray arrow at the bottom right. Only two points are important.

• By Patching Memory. RAM is used to change the main menu.
• Be Editing Resources. Edited by "Eexe".

Classic Shell

The Classic Shell utility is suitable for Windows 8 and 10. It is a comprehensive program for customizing the Start menu. But now we only need icons in it.

• Download it from classicshell.net. There is a tab “ALL DOWNLOADS”.
• Start the installation. To work with the design of the main menu, use the “Classic Shell Start Menu” component. You don't have to download the rest.

• Open the application.
• On the Menu Style tab, select the All Options option and click OK.
• You want classic Win style
• Check the “Change button image” checkbox.
• Check the "Other" box.
• "Select image."
• Show the way to it.

If “Start” is missing

If after installing the icon the menu bar and all shortcuts on the desktop disappear, you need to restart Explorer.

1. Launch Task Manager. To do this, use the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys.
2. Go to File - New Task.
3. In the input field that opens, write “explorer.exe” without quotes.
4. Click OK.

The Start button cannot be changed through personalization settings. Yes, and in other Win parameters there is no such option. To add a new icon, you need third-party programs. They edit system file“Explorer.exe”, to which the icons are attached.

Windows 7 OS has wide functionality for personalization and changing the appearance style of most controls. Many users, especially those who recently switched to 7 from XP, are still tormented by nostalgia for the well-known interface. I especially want to change the Start panel.

Installing the classic theme

Windows 7 comes with several pre-installed themes. Among them there are basic ones that can radically change the graphical display of the interface of the entire OS. Including returning the Start panel to its classic look. Also, the use of simplified design themes can significantly save processor, video card and random access memory. To change the OS theme to classic, you need to do the following:

• Start menu.
• Select “Control Panel”.
• Here we find the “Personalization” item.

There is also another way to get here. Directly from your desktop. This method of transition is much faster and occurs through the right-click submenu.

• Right-click on the desktop.
• Select the bottom item “Personalization”.
• In the “Change sound and image on your computer” window, go to “Basic (simplified) themes”.
• Click on the “Classic” theme icon to activate it.

After this, the graphical display of all interface elements of Windows 7 will become classic. Including the Start panel. You can change the theme to the previous one by clicking on its mouse icon (left button).

We configure everything in detail

We managed to bring the Start panel back to its classic look. But still, the desired result may not be entirely satisfactory. Therefore, we will configure this panel in detail. To do this you need to do the following:

1. Right-click on any free space in the Start panel and go through Properties.
2. Go to “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties”.
3. Go to the “Start Menu” tab.
4. Here you can set the action of the Shut Down button in Windows 7.
5. To change the display and behavior of each group of elements, go to the “Customize Start Menu” dialog box through the “Customize” button.
6. Here you can also set the number of items to display in the menu.

Configure using the Classic Shell program

If you don’t have enough capabilities and such fine-tuning of Start in Windows 7, then you will need a small Classic Shell utility. With its help, you can customize the display of not only the start menu, but also Explorer, and return the classic look of IE 9. It is completely free. And its Russified version can be downloaded from the developer’s website. Need to do.

Let's change everything for the better... The result should be like this (remember how convenient the drop-down menu was in XP?):

We need a basic setup of the Windows taskbar

In the same window, click the “Customize” button and in the next window, check the box “Always display all icons and notifications on the taskbar.” Without closing this window, click on the line “Turn system icons on or off” and on the next screen select which icons you do not want to see in the tray.

After reading it, we turn on and off the display of the elements we need and don’t need in Start. Click OK

So, we got a narrow start line, a normal tray and a human display of open windows.

Now we need to return the classic look of the Start menu itself, called up by button. Here, unfortunately, you can’t get by with just the settings and you’ll have to use a third-party program called Classic Shell:

Download a program called Classic Shell. Download link, for example, this one here;
We run the downloaded file for installation and install the program (everything is simple, you don’t need to change anything yet, the only thing is to make sure that both checkboxes are checked during installation);
After installation, we poke the mouse and see, in general, a classic launch, but most likely large, and therefore I recommend adjusting it so that it is smaller and more convenient. You can do this by right-clicking on the Start icon and selecting “Settings” from the drop-down menu:

Setting up classic shell on Windows

Setting up classic shell and Windows
customizing the classic shell start menu
On the second tab, you can choose to call up different styles, for example, by pressing the Win button or Shift+Click or some others;
In particular, you can disable various elements from the launcher and make it look like this:

Setting up start elements - To do this, simply check the “Dont display this item” items on the second tab opposite the items that you do not need:

That's probably all for now. However, if you want to customize everything completely for yourself, then check the Show all settings: box and you will see additional settings classic shell - And have fun customizing everything the way you want.

If one day Microsoft has already reached the pinnacle of creativity in the windows XP interface? No subsequent perversions of Bill Gates' team will prevent a Russian person from using this perfect and wise XP interface, the highlight of which was the drop-down menu of programs.

If you want to change it, make it more convenient according to your preferences, then launch the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window. To do this you need:

• right-click on the “Start” button,
• The context menu of the Start button will open,
• in this menu, left-click on the “Properties” link (Fig. 1):

Rice. 1 Start menu properties

As a result, we get to the “Properties and Start Menu” window, in which we open the Start menu tab (Fig. 2):

Rice. 2 Taskbar and Start menu properties in Windows 7

In Fig. 2 shows that in Windows 7 the ability to set the classic Start menu view (in one column) has been removed, but a tool for customizing the power button has been added. The “Power button action” drop-down list (number 1 in Fig. 2) allows you to select what actions will be performed after pressing this button:

• change user,
• ending the session
• hibernation,
• completion of work.

Here you can leave the action, that is, “Shutdown”.

Setting privacy for the Start menu in Windows 7

Windows keeps track of the history of applications you launch and documents you open. You can opt out of these functions by unchecking the following boxes in the “Confidentiality” section (number 2 in Fig. 2):

• “Store and display a list of recently opened programs in the Start menu.” If you remove the check mark next to this inscription, then frequently used applications will no longer appear in the left column of the Start menu.

• “Store and display a list of recently opened items in the Start menu and taskbar,” for example, as Figure 3 shows recently opened files for the Paint program:

Rice. 3 List of recently opened items in the Start menu for Paint

If you uncheck the box next to “Store and display a list of recently opened items in the Start menu and taskbar,” then you will disable the display of frequently used and recent documents in the jump list, for example, in Paint, Word, etc. Then in Fig. 3 for the Paint program there will NOT be a small triangle opposite the name Paint and, of course, there will be no right “Recent” panel in Fig. 3.

By the way, before completely changing the Windows 7 Start menu, I recommend using the help button “How to configure the Start menu?”, indicated by number 3 in Fig. 2 (this is still the primary source of information).

Features of the “Customize” button in the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window

The “Customize” button (number 4 in Fig. 2) opens a window for setting the Start menu parameters. Top part This window contains a fairly large list of settings, as evidenced by the presence of a slider (number 3 in Fig. 4). Most settings enable or disable the display of individual menu components in the Start menu:

Rice. 4 Customizing the Start menu in Windows 7

The “Start Menu Customization” window (Fig. 4) offers two types of display:

• “Display as menu” (number 1 in Fig. 5) means that when you hover the cursor over such an element, its contents will be displayed in the form of a multi-level menu, without going to a separate window (for example, the contents of the “Control Panel” will be displayed).

• “Display as a link” (number 2 in Fig. 5) - this means that only the name of the element will be displayed (for example, “Devices and Printers”), and it will open in a separate window after clicking on it with the mouse (for example, on "Devices and Printers"

Rice. 5 Display as Menu and Display as Link in Windows Start Menu

"Don't show this item" means that the Start menu will NOT show this item.

Other parameters of this window (Fig. 4) have the following purposes:

1. “Highlight recently installed programs.” Shortcuts recently installed applications will be highlighted to make it easier to find. If you uncheck the box, the shortcuts will NOT be different from other shortcuts.

2. “Search in other files and libraries.” This is setting up search options in libraries using the search form in the Start menu. Available options:

• "Search in general." The search takes place in general directories and in the user's personal folders.

• "Don't search." Libraries will not be searched.

• "Don't search public folders." Search is carried out only in the user's personal folders.

3. “Search for programs and features in Control Panel.” When you enter text into the Search bar, the system will search for those items and programs that are in the Control Panel.

4. “Large icons.” If you clear this checkbox, small icons will be used to display actively used applications.

5. “Control Panel”. I recommend checking the box next to “Display as menu” (then it will be the same as in Fig. 5). This is convenient, since by hovering the mouse over the Control Panel, you can immediately select the desired element, rather than opening a window.

6. “Allow context menus and dragging of objects.” This checkbox is checked by default, so it’s better to leave it this way.

7. “Expand menu when mouse pointer pauses.” When this checkbox is checked, the menu will automatically open when the cursor is delayed, without having to click the mouse.

8. Sort “All programs” by name. By default, this checkbox is checked, and all items in this menu are sorted by name.

9. “Devices and Printers” - if you have it connected, then I recommend checking the box here to be able to access the printer from the Start menu.

How do I customize the number of programs shown in the Start menu and the number of recently used documents?

The parameter “Display recently used items in the jump list in quantity” (number 4 in Fig. 4) corresponds to the number open files in Fig. 3. Specifically, in Fig. 4, 8 elements are specified and, accordingly, in Fig. 3 exactly 8 files are open – exactly like in a pharmacy.

The maximum number of programs that can be set for the item “Display recently used programs in quantity” (number 5 in Fig. 4) is 30.

The maximum number of documents for the item “Display recently used elements in the jump list in quantity” (number 4 in Fig. 4) is 60.

If there are no special preferences, then for novice users all Start menu settings can be left as default, that is, as they were set by Windows 7 programmers.

How to pin a program to the Start menu?

By default, the left column of the Windows 7 Start menu displays the latest programs in the list of programs. running programs on your computer. You can pin frequently used programs to the Start menu for quick access.

To do this, select the appropriate program in the Start menu by clicking on the link at the end of the “All Programs” menu. Having found the program, right-click on it and in the menu that appears, click on the option “Pin to Start Menu” (Fig. 6):

Rice. 6 How to pin a program to the Windows 7 Start menu?

The pinned program will appear at the top of the Start menu and will be separated by a line from the list of recently opened programs.

How to remove a program from the Start menu?

Please note that we are only talking about removing the link to the program from the Start menu; the program itself remains on the computer.

To remove a program from the Start menu, click on the program name in the Start menu, and in the window that appears, click on the “Remove from Start menu” option.

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How to return the classic view of the Start menu and Explorer

In addition to the launch, I was completely unsettled and unnerved by a number of removed menus in “ My computer“, the lack of a button was especially frustrating Up” and menu bars with “ File, Edit, View, etc.“. How to return all this will also be discussed in this article.
In general, to the point. Let's make the launch the way it should be

What's what and why.

To begin with, what the result will be:

If you don’t quite understand, then in the second picture there are tray icons.

Now let’s talk about how to actually return everything:

So, we got a narrow start line, a normal tray and a human display of open windows. Now we need to return the classic appearance of the menu itself, called by the button. Here, unfortunately, you can’t get by with just the settings and you’ll have to use a third-party program called Classic Shell:

If you need a menu of printers or links, then uncheck the boxes with the word Expand. If in addition to “ Documents" You need " Favorites" And " Sign Out“, then check the box with the word “ Show“. Otherwise, we shouldn’t have any differences in tastes.

It seems like everything. By the way, do you want to get a standard human explorer (my computer) with an up button, a menu bar and other convenient paraphernalia, for some reason put away?