I've used Icon Forge to edir the icon on the Start button. It's not that good though, because you can't copy and paste a new icon into the icon you are currently working on. You have to have a bit of an artistic skill for Icon Forge. For editing the text on the Start button, I've used Resource Hacker. It's pretty easy. You can also change the start menu bitmap by replacing it with pretty much anything you want...it doesn't have to be the same size or color depth. At one point, I even put my own picture in there!