Program for changing the Windows 7 start icon. What you need to change the Start button. How to pin a program to the Start menu

To make Windows 7 more original, you can change not only the theme and design, but also the icons standard folders, Recycle Bin, Startup and Files. The easiest way is to use the capabilities of the system itself, but if you wish, you can install programs and unique icons from the Internet.

How to change the start icon on Windows 7?

For the sake of variety, sometimes you want to change the Windows start icon, because standard image It's boring every day. How to do this for seven?

To change the start button, use Windows program 7 Start Button Changer. It can be downloaded for free.

The simplest option

If you have downloaded the program to your computer, all you need to do is run it. But be sure to do this as an administrator. Then all you have to do is select the icon you like, replace it and enjoy the new button.

If everything worked for you, you can stop there. However, sometimes things get complicated, so it requires a little more steps and a file called explorer.exe.

Option to change the explorer.exe file

Go to system disk C. Find Windows folder, open it and find the file we need there. It will be called explorer.exe.

Click the mouse (with its right button) so that a list with items appears. There we select “Properties”.


Open the “Properties” item, tabs will appear there. We need "Safety". A list of users will appear in the window. Select the group called “Administrators” and click on the “Edit” button.


In the next window, in the permissions for the group you need to check the boxes vertical column“Allow” next to all items in the box. Be sure to apply the changes and agree to the new permissions.


Now we return to the “Security” tab, we need to additionally set permissions for changes. The button is called “Advanced” and changing this parameter will enable special permissions for the Administrator group.


In the tab that opens, select the line “Administrators” with one click of the mouse. Click on the function to change permissions.

If you did everything correctly, in the “Permission” column opposite the “Administrators” group you will have “Full Control” rights. IN normal mode By default, permissions are displayed at the Read and Execute level.


In the window that appears, you will need to change the permission details and to do this you need to click on the “Change” button. The next window will be called "Resolution Element". In the “Allow” column, check all the boxes. We agree with the changes.


Please note that the Owner tab should display your account name or Administrator name.


Now we have all the rights to make changes at the system level. Launch Windows 7 Start Button Changer, first download and install it. Right-click on the icon and run as administrator.


There you need to select an item called “Change Start Button”. We will need the "Sample Orbs" folder. This is a special archive with a set of buttons. Choose which one you like best and click “Open”.


To cancel the changes, just click on the button called “Restore Original Explorer Backup” and the start icon will return to its original appearance.


How to change a file icon in Windows 7?

For those who want to change personalization computer to suit you and make the file icons different, this step-by-step instruction- the most accurate.

Having completed all the steps, you can now always change the icons at your discretion. Moreover, you won’t need third party applications or additional programs, as in the case of replacing the start icon, here you can get by standard means sevens.

The icons themselves can be downloaded from the Internet or even ordered from a designer if you want something truly unique.



Don't forget after changes made save the data by clicking “Apply” and “Ok”.

How to change folder icons in Windows 7

Changing a folder's icon will allow you to make it unique by making it stand out from the crowd. The steps are quite simple, so even if you are a beginner, you can easily figure out the procedure.


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If for some reason you don’t like the result, then you can return everything by opening the same path: Properties - Settings - Change icon. On last tab There is a “Restore defaults” function. By clicking on it, you will restore the icons that are present in the system by default.

Installing icons using IconPackager

There is another way to change folder icons to any others. For this you can use convenient utility IconPackager.


If your collection does not contain icons for certain types of files or programs, the icons for these objects will remain the same - without changes.


It happens that you need to return the icons back. In this case, in the same program, click on “Windows Default Icons By: Microsoft” at the bottom of the screen from the available icons and apply the rule by clicking on “Apply icon package”.

Other programs for changing icons

To install icons, the tools suggested above are not always enough. For example, you liked an icon, but it is presented only in the PNG extension, while installing new icons requires the ICO extension. In this case, two programs will be useful:
  • AveIcon 2 is a small program that can convert icon files from PNG and ICO.
  • IrfanView is a utility that comes in handy if you need to convert an entire collection of icons at once.
Another program is IconTo. Its capabilities lie in the fact that you can assign specific picrograms to individual system objects. For example, you replaced the folder icons, but for one very important one you want to use a unique icon. This is where IconTo can help.

How to change the trash icon in Windows 7?

Changing the trash icon requires other steps. You won't be able to access it through Properties.

Video on replacing standard icons in the seven

Watch the visual video instructions on how to change standard icons to your own:


Thus, if you want to change the icons of folders, files and other objects in Windows 7, you can use the capabilities of the most operating system. It is enough to download the pictograms from the Internet as individual icons or as a whole collection. Installing icons will only take a few minutes, even if you use third-party programs.

If you want to change what has already become habitual, Windows interface 7, then why not change the Start button? In this article I will show you a way to change standard icon Start on a more beautiful one. I will also provide links to the program and the buttons themselves.

First, you need to download a program to change buttons.

The archive contains the program itself and more than 220 buttons from which you can choose any one.
If you need other Start icons, then look under the spoiler.

Now you need to set it to explorer.exe administrator rights.
To do this, open the directory with Windows (usually this is C:/Windows) and find the file there explorer.exe.
Right-click on it, select Properties -> Security -> Edit -> Select “Administrators”


-> Check all the boxes or select “Full access” -> press the button Apply


We unpack the archive downloaded from this site at the very beginning of the article. Go to the Win7StartButton folder, select Windows file 7 Start Button Changer v 2.6.exe and run the program as administrator ( right key mouse -> Run as administrator)


Choose S elect & Change Start Button, indicate the picture you want to change to and click Open


It should look something like this:

Tips and " what to do if nothing works»

Before changing the modified button to a new one, it is better to first restore the original one and only then change it to another one.
It is best if the program is in its own program folder W7SBC is as close to the root of the disk as possible.
If you encounter an error on a 64-bit OS version, just click continue or run the program again as an administrator.
If the button has not changed: go to the C:\Windows folder and check whether the group in which your user is a member has full access to the file explorer.exe.
If the file properties differ from the picture below (you are part of the administrators group)


then you need to get full access to files and folders in Windows 7 and Vista.

To quickly gain full access to files and/or folders in Windows 7 and Vista, we can use two methods: using the TakeControl utility and a registry hack. These are the simplest and easiest methods. Also exists completely manual method, but we will consider it in a separate article, because it will not suit most beginners, and it will take much more time than these two methods.

Attention! Disable UAC (User Account Control) and work as an administrator. Once you have full access, you can enable UAC and go to your account user.
I.TakeControl
Let's start from the very beginning simple way– TakeControl utility from the developer.

1. Download the TakeControl utility (no installation required) and extract the contents of the archive.
2. Launch it, click on Add, add files for which you need to change the owner and gain full access.


Since we have administrator rights, the program will show that everything is in order ( You are running with the required elevated privileges) and you can change the owner.
If the rights are not enough, the program will tell you about this too ( You need elevated privileges. Choose "Run as administrator")


3. Click Take control, thereby making yourself the owner of the above files and gaining full access to them.


4. If the result in the picture matches yours, then everything worked out. You have full access to the files you need.

Also a very simple method. Configured for Russians and English versions Windows. If your Windows was originally supplied in another language (Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, etc.), then use TakeControl or write in the comments, we will adapt the registry hack to your OS version.

1. Download a set of .reg files (there are three of them: one for installing the Russian version, another for installing the English version, and a third for uninstalling).
2. Extract them to any location (for example, to the Documents folder) and run (double-click) AddRus.reg to install the Russian version or AddEng.reg to install English.



We agree to the changes (“ Yes" And " OK»).

Attention! Install the Russian version only if your version of Windows was originally in Russian. If it was English, and you yourself installed the Russian language later (LIP or MUI), then use English version, otherwise nothing will work.
3. After this, if you hold Shift key and right-click on the required file or folder will appear new option“Become the owner” for the Russian version and “Take ownership” for the English version, by clicking on which you will make yourself the owner of the selected files and get full access to them.


This method is very convenient and can be useful quite often, so don’t rush to delete it. But if you still decide to delete it, just run the Remove.reg file and agree to the changes (“Yes”, then “OK”).

Attention! To replace explorer.exe (and any other system file) with a new file, be sure to rename it first, otherwise it won't work. It is better to rename it to explorer.exe.backup, so you will always know that this is a copy of the original explorer.exe (or any other system file) and if something happens, you can return it back without any problems.

After that, feel free to launch Windows 7 Start Button Changer and change the button.

Windows 7 OS has wide functionality for personalization and style changes appearance 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 graphic display interface of the entire OS. Including bringing back the Start panel. 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"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 Shutdown 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 there are not enough opportunities and such fine tuning“Start” in Windows 7, then you will need a small utility Classic Shell. With its help you can customize the display not only start menu, but also Explorer, 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.

A major inconvenience has been fixed in Windows 10 previous versions: The “Start” button has been returned to its rightful place. But now she doesn't look the same as before, because her previous look was combined with the starting one. Windows screen 8. However, customizing the menu to suit your needs is quite simple.

Where is the Start button in Windows 10

There is nothing unusual in the location of the Start menu: in the “top ten” the button for calling it is located in the lower left corner of the taskbar. When pressed it drops out large menu, where the most used icons are located on the left, tiles leading to applications, programs and utilities, as well as folders with these objects, are on the right.

The Start button in Windows 10 is located at the bottom left of the taskbar, and the menu itself is divided into two parts

Start button settings

To access the menu settings, you need to right-click on it. Then a context submenu will appear. It can also be called by pressing Win keys+ X. Most settings are made in the “Personalization” section.

To go to Start settings, right-click on the button and select “Personalization”

Switch to full screen mode

To expand Start to full screen:


Another way to switch Start to full-screen view is to activate tablet mode:

Video: How to enable full screen mode for the Start button

Start button color and shape

You can change the color, shape, and other appearance parameters of Start. To do this, go to the “Colors” tab in the “Personalization” window. On the right, select the desired color (or set it automatic selection). Here you can make the entire menu transparent by applying the appropriate settings under the color palette.


To change the color of the Start menu, you need to go to the “Colors” tab of the “Personalization” window

The menu can be easily resized using the mouse - drag its borders as far as needed.

Pin objects

You can now pin a variety of objects in Start: shortcuts necessary programs, all kinds of folders and separate files. To do this, just call up the context menu by clicking on the desired icon and select “Pin to Start Screen”. The corresponding item will immediately appear in the Start menu.

To pin an object to Start, call up the context menu and select “Pin to Start Screen”

Similarly, to unpin, right-click on a file or shortcut located in the menu and select the corresponding item in the drop-down column.


To unpin an object, right-click on it and select “Unpin from” from the menu. home screen»

Setting up tiles

The sizes of the tiles can also be changed using context menu: select “Change size” and select the desired dimensions from four options.


To change the size of tiles in the Start menu, you need to select the corresponding item in the context menu

You can move tile icons by simply dragging them across the desktop to the desired location. Also, for user convenience, the system allows you to distribute tiles into groups. You can create groups in two ways:


Other Start settings

By default, in the Start menu, the system shows the applications that the user opens most often, or those programs that were recently installed on the PC. This can be changed in Personalization by turning off the corresponding sliders.


The Start menu's display of recently added and frequently used apps changes in the Personalization window

In the same window, you select the folders that will be displayed in the menu.

In the personalization settings you can also select the folders that will be displayed in the Start menu

Another innovation of the updated Start is the ability to hide the list of all applications. Yes, in the first Windows versions There was an item 10 “All applications”, but it was impossible to hide them. Now the user just needs to toggle the slider next to the corresponding item in the “Start” tab of the “Personalization” window.


Drag the desired slider to hide the list of all applications

Video: Completely customizing the appearance and content of the Start menu

Interacting with the new Start button is quite simple. Most settings are changed either through the Personalization window or by dragging tiles with the mouse. Depending on the user's wishes, the Start menu in Windows 10 may contain a large number of necessary icons and programs or, conversely, look neat and even minimalistic.

It is very easy to get rid of Internet addiction! Everyone in our chat did this several times.
Just a joke)

Why change an integral part of the graphic Windows package? I don’t know myself :) The brain resists, and the hands reach out, instantly ruining something after new installation systems. After restarting my computer, I got a black screen with a single white cursor. . Shortcuts disappeared and the taskbar became unusable. Sometimes nothing happened at all and I was forced to. And so everything is fine, beautiful Marquise, everything is fine, everything is fine.

Let's start with the simplest . For this we will use free program.

The utility does not need to be installed on your computer. Enabled as administrator and that's it. I immediately advise you to open the settings (by clicking the cursor on the arrow at the bottom right) and check the boxes something like this:


Change By Patching Memory - Change connecting memory
Change By Editing Resources - Change by editing resources
Add Shortcut In Context Menu— Add a shortcut to the context menu
Add Option In Context Menu - Add an item to the context menu
Don’t Show Success Messages - Do not show success messages successful operation
Always Show Advanced Mode - Always show Advanced Mode
Show Progress While Changing - Show progress while changing

This will allow us to launch the program from the desktop context menu in the future. Press the “Change” button and select in Explorer the desired picture. my big set buttons Or download the buttons. The “baby” program will think and automatically do its insidious deed.


We return the Start button to its default by clicking on “Restore” and for many, shortcuts and the taskbar disappear. Get to work :) But this is easy to fix. Press the key combination Alt+Ctrl+Delete and activate “File” in the Task Manager - New task(Run...) - write explorer - Ok.


It's a little more complicated manual mode using a program like .
The image of the Start button is located in the Explorer.exe file in the BITMAP section ( Bitmap). Resources from 6801 to 6812. The most important thing is to get full access and rights to the file.
1. And so, being in C: Windows, right-click on the explorer.exe file and select Properties - Security - Advanced
2. Next Owner - Change, select either the name of your account or the administrator and click Apply then OK and OK again.
3. Now select “Permissions”, select the entry for which we have given owner rights and click Change permissions, again select the entry for which we have given owner rights and click Edit, check all the boxes and click OK then Apply, a window will appear, click Yes and now OK again and in other windows OK.
4. Open the explorer.exe file in Restorator (Restorator 2007) and change the above resources.
5. Save the file you are editing and rename it, for example, to Explorer 2.exe
6. Next, carefully watch the video :) the one just below the text.
7. Reasons why there may be problems: Make sure that the programs were launched on behalf of the Administrator. Not worth it NET Framework. Explorer.exe does not belong to the user, but to TrustedInstaller. Check whether the Themes and Session Manager services of the desktop window manager are running: Start - Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services, also the startup type should be Automatic. Try temporarily disabling User Account Control (UAC for short).

During the creation of the video, they recommended a program such as . But this is not for everybody and self-study. And so I advise everyone to experiment, but not to swim behind the buoys :)