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                        Start Menu Changer'97 Readme file.
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This program is SHAREWARE. It is provided "AS IS". The author takes no
responsibility for any damage caused by this program. You can copy it as many 
times as you like. Give it to anyone as long as all the files in the 
distribution are included and no changes are made to any files. If you like it
you can register it.
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The files which should be included in the original ZIP file:

   Setup.exe       - The installation.
   StartMC.ex_     - The program.
   Remove.ex_      - The uninstallation.
   Readme.txt      - The program information. (This file).
   ReadmeFr.txt    - French translation of this Readme file.
   ReadmeRu.txt    - Russian translation of this Readme file.
   Register.exe    - Start Menu Changer'97 registration
   Register.hlp    - Registration help
   Sharewre.txt    - The concept of Shareware.
   History.txt     - Start Menu Changer's history.
   File_id.diz     - Small program description.
   End-User.txt    - End user agreement

   Alexey\ - My favourite theme pack    
   Win98\  - Windows 98 theme pack
   Sun\    - Sun theme pack by H.Renouard    
   Sample\ - Sample theme pack of using SMC theme packs

Q: How do I register the software and what benefits will I have?
A: Go to Start Menu Changer'97 'About' bookmark. Press the 'Run Register.exe'
   button. Then fill out the form by entering your name, email address and the
   number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to 
   purchase. After a couple of days you'll receive a registration code.
   Or choose 'Online registration' via secured internet protocol.
   Benefits: 
     1) All registered users will receive notifications when a new version
        of SMC appears.
     2) If you change your operating system (for example, from Windows 95 to
        Windows 98), but SMC doesn't support it, just tell me and the required
        corrections will be done in a new SMC version.
     3) Your code for registration will be valid on all versions of SMC.

Q: What is the start button icon's limit?
A: The Start button icon size has to be 10x10, 12x12, 14x14, 16x16, 22x22 or 
   32x32  with 16 colors. By default, Windows 95/98 uses 16x16 icon. You can 
   change this by resizing the active title bar (click right mouse button on 
   desktop, select properties/appearance).

Q: What does Start Menu Changer modify and how do I remove changes?
A: Start Menu Changer modifies Explorer.exe and User.exe files. 
   Backup files are stored as Explorer.sav in your Windows directory and 
   User.sav in your Windows system directory. It also modifies the registry. 
   To restore your original files press the Restore button. To enable your 
   changes you have to restart Windows.

Q: How do I restore the original Windows icons on the start menu?
A: There are two ways or doing that: 
   1) Press the right mouse button on one of the 10 start menu icons and choose
      'restore' from the popup menu.
   2) Press the restore button and choose 'restore original icons on start 
      menu'.

Q: I'm having trouble starting Windows 95/98.
A: If you have problems with starting Windows or restoring your original
   settings, boot into command line (DOS) and copy the *.sav files to *.exe 
   files. If you still have problems then 
   1) Extract Explorer.exe and User.exe from your Windows installation. 
      For example, ( EXTRACT /A /L C:\TEMP WIN95_02.CAB EXPLORER.EXE 
      USER.EXE ) for Windows 95 or ( EXTRACT /A /L C:\TEMP WIN98_22.CAB 
      EXPLORER.EXE USER.EXE ) for Windows 98.
   2) If you have Windows 95 + IE4 shell integration installed then change 
      the line in your C:\Windows\System.ini from 'shell=Explorer.exe' to 
      'shell=Progman.exe'. When windows starts up with the Program Manager you 
      will have to go to File Manager (winfile.exe) and find the IE4.01 setup. 
      Re-install IE4 by doubleclicking setup. The Internet connection should be
      functioning because the problem does not effect the configuration nor
      IE4. When IE4 finishes the installation, the changes in system.ini are 
      reset to normal again and the setup will restart windows 95 automatically
      and all systems should be working properly.

Q: How can I change the start menu vertical logo?
A: First of all, you have to create a bitmap file (21x130 for Windows 95 or
   21x223 for Windows 98) with 16 colors. Run Windows Paint, choose the
   appropriate size, draw what you like and then save the picture as a 16 color
   bitmap file (you can also change the palette of the logo). Run Start Menu 
   Changer and then press 'Load logo' button to load picture. After rebooting,
   your vertical logo size may be too small. To correct this problem you have
   to compress your picture file using RLE compression. Windows Paint doesn't
   support RLE compression, so choose another graphic editor, for example, 
   Paint Shop Pro ( http://www.jasc.com/psp.html ). Sometimes, your BMP with 
   RLE compression will be longer than without RLE. The best program to 
   compress BMPs I've seen is the Borland Resource Workshop. To view the whole
   picture, your BMP file has to be =< 1320 bytes for Windows 95 and =< 2917
   bytes for Windows 98.

Q: My vertical logo has been cut and there are some incorrect pixels after it.
A: To correct this run Start Menu Changer, load logo and then decrease the
   logo's height. However, the logo will always be cut because Start Menu
   Changer rewrites the existing logo in Explorer.exe file with the existing
   size.

Q: How can I create my own Theme Pack?
A: First of all, see the Sample Theme Pack. Index.smc is an ini-type file so
   you can easly modify it in Windows Notepad. If any ICON or BMP file (or 
   sections in index.smc) isn't included in your theme then the picture (or 
   options) will not be changed in Windows.

NOTE: Unchecked Favorites, Run, Find, Settings, Logoff, Suspend and Shutdown 
      will not appear in Explorer at all until you've checked them again in 
      Start Menu Changer'97. This happens because Start Menu Changer'97 also 
      modifies the registry.

KNOWN BUGS: -> Some versions of Windows will not hide some options when you
               uncheck them in SMC. Microsoft's bug.
            -> Doesn't support Windows NT. 'Read beyond end of file' message 
               occurs. This message also may occur on some unsupported 
               Windows 95/98 versions.
            -> Doesn't hide Settings from start menu in IE4 and in Windows 98.
            -> 256 color icons are saved only as 16 color icons. 
               Bug in Delphi 3.0 VCL.
            -> 'Save as theme' button saves loaded logo's picture in
               true color, not in 16 colors. So it can't be loaded again.

If you have any suggestions or any questions contact me or if you have cool
Theme Packs for Start Menu Changer send them to me or send me a link to your 
page where these Themes pack will be located.

Email -------------------> servent@apollo.lv 
Home page ---------------> http://www.halyava.ru/aaalexey
Start Menu Changer page -> http://www.halyava.ru/aaalexey/StartMenu.html