Changing Text in Start Button

Here is the code to change the text in the start button:

Code:

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Option Strict Off
Public Class Form1
    Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" _
            (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Integer
    Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowExA" _
    (ByVal hWnd1 As Integer, ByVal hWnd2 As Integer, ByVal lpsz1 As String, ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Integer
    Private Declare Function SendMessageSTRING Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" _
    (ByVal hwnd As Integer, ByVal wMsg As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As String) As Integer

    Private Const WM_SETTEXT = &HC
    Private Const WM_GETTEXT = &HD

    Public Sub ChangeStartButtonText(ByVal str As String)
        Try
            Dim StartButton As Integer
            Dim StartButtonText As Integer
            Dim Caption As String
            StartButton = FindWindow("Shell_TrayWnd", vbNullString)
            StartButtonText = FindWindowEx(StartButton, 0&, "button", vbNullString)
            Caption = Mid(str, 1, 5)
            SendMessageSTRING(StartButtonText, WM_SETTEXT, 256, Caption)
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        ChangeStartButtonText(TextBox1.Text)
    End Sub
End Class

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WARNING! If you set the text to more than 5 characters it will be cut off.

If you like this code please rate it and leave feedback.
Thanks!

When the computer is turned off / reset, does windows retain the new word or does it get set back to 'Start'?

Aha i knew someone would ask that, but the answer is no unfortunately it will get set back to start but if you want i could make something that retains the word until you change it.

Solution: Everytime the start button is changed write the text to a file and then on form load make it change the start button text to the text from the file.
Make your program create a registry key here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
As your programs directory.

Example:

Code:

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Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim startvar As String
        If IO.File.Exists("C:\text.txt") Then
            startvar = IO.File.ReadAllText("C:\text.txt")
            SetStartCaption(startvar)
'write to the registry here, cant be bothered working out how to if someone can it'll be greatly appreciated
        End If

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        ChangeStartButtonText(TextBox1.Text)
IO.File.WriteAllText("C:\text.txt", TextBox1.Text)
    End Sub

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Nice code thanks mate

But automatically the name is resetting after certain mins.

For anyone that is just looking to do this for fun rather than wanting the VB code for it, you can follow this guide: http://www.theeldergeek.com/change_t...rt_button1.htm
It does not get reset when you restart your PC or anything and I did it once and used the system for months without any issues.