Create your own Windows Startup Screen

Tired of the same old Windows 95/98 startup screen.  How would you like to replace it with a picture of your loved ones!  You can do that ... here's how:

The Windows splash (Startup) screen is hidden in your "C" drive named LOGO.SYS.  Although the .sys extension is for system files, it is actually a bitmap (.bmp) file.  So basically, all you have to do to replace the Windows splash screen is create a new bitmap and save it as LOGO.SYS.  

First, lets rename the existing LOGO.SYS file so you have a back-up copy, just incase you ever need it.  Click "Start", "Programs", "Windows Explorer".  Choose "Tools" from the toolbar, "Find", "Files or Folders".  Type in LOGO.SYS and let it find the file on the "C" drive.  Right click on the file it found and choose "Rename".  Rename it LOGO.OLD and close the find window.

Once you've renamed LOGO.SYS, you're ready to create your own splash screen.  The LOGO.SYS image is stored as a 320 x 400 bitmap.  Open Microsoft Paint and set the workspace to 320 x 400 by choosing "Image" on the toolbar and click "Attributes".  When the Attributes dialog box appears, set the Width to 320 and the Height to 400.  If you set the values to anything other than 320 x 400, Windows won't display the splash screen.  Leave the settings in the Units and Colors panels as they are and click OK.  At this point, you're ready to create a custom bitmap to use for the splash screen.  

First, decide on a .bmp picture you want to use for your startup screen.  If your picture is in .jpg format, open Windows Paintbrush, open your .jpg picture and "Save As" a .bmp file.  This will create a new picture instead of changing your original.  After you create your bitmap, rename it LOGO.SYS and move it into the "C" drive and close Paint. The next time you start your system, you'll see your new startup splash screen.

NOTES: When you design a bitmap with the screen attributes set at 320 x 400, you may notice that the splash screen appears a little bit stretched out when Windows displays it at 640 x 480.  This is especially true if, as you're designing your splash screen, you paste an existing bitmap image that was created in a 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 work-space into your 320 x 400 workspace. As soon as you paste a bitmap image in the 320 x 400 workspace, click "Image" and select "Stretch/Skew".  When the Stretch/Skew dialog box appears, reduce the value in the Horizontal text box. Then, select the Vertical radio button and reduce the vertical value the same amount as you did the horizontal value and click OK. If the image still appears stretched after you reboot, you'll need to return to Paint and experiment with other values in the Horizontal and Vertical text boxes. 

Change Windows title bar colors

Did you know you could change the color of the Windows Title Bars?  You can even change the settings of the title bar on Windows 98 so the color gradually changes from one color on the left side to another color on the right side.  

To change the color of the Windows Title Bar, right-click on your desktop and a pop up menu appears, choose "Properties", then click the "Appearance" tab.  Under the "Item" section, find "Active Title Bar".  Now just change the color button on the right and find a color that suits you.

To make the colors gradually change in Windows 98, you must have your color settings at high color or true color. 

Add Control Panel to your Desktop

To add a Control Panel Icon to your desktop, Right-click the desktop and choose New, then Folder.  Copy the text below into the Name of the folder just as you see it.

ControlPanel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

To add it into your Quick Launch, all you have to do is use the right mouse button to drag the folder to the Quick Launch bar. When the menu opens, choose Move Here.

Screen Setting on the Taskbar

To get a quick look at your screen settings, first right-click on the desktop, click Properties to bring up the Display Properties Menu, then click on the Settings tab, and click Advanced. Now check the Show Settings icon on Taskbar option, and a small icon will appear on your Taskbar, giving you a quicker view of your display properties, settings, and potential changes you might want to make.