Want to make your Windows 7 PC even more unique and personalized? Then check out this easy guide on how to change your start orb in Windows 7.
Getting Started
Jul 23, 2010 Now, the Windows 7 Start Orb Changer will change, and show your new Start orb on the left side. If you would like to revert to the default orb, simply click the folder icon to restore it. Or, if you would like to change the orb again, restore the original first and then select a new one. Windows 7 Start Button Changer. This will run the System File Checker and replace all corrupted system files with original system files. In the rare eventuality that you lose your explorer.exe, then from your desktop, press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC to bring up the Task Manager. Click File tab New Task Type cmd Click Run.
First, download the free Windows 7 Start Button Changer (link below), and extract the contents of the folder. It contains the app along with a selection of alternate start button orbs you can try out.
Before changing the start button, we advise creating a system restore point in case anything goes wrong. Enter System Restore in your Start menu search, and select “Create a restore point”.
Please note:We tested this on both the 32 bit and 64 bit editions of Windows 7, and didn’t encounter any problems or stability issues. That said, it is always prudent to make a restore point just in case a problem did happen.
Click the Create button…
Then enter a name for the restore point, and click Create.
Changing the Start Orb.
Once this is finished, run the Windows 7 Start Button Changer as administrator by right-clicking on it and selecting “Run as administrator”. Accept the UAC prompt that will appear.
If you don’t run it as an administrator, you may see the following warning. Click Quit, and then run again as administrator.
You should now see the Windows 7 Start Button Changer. On the left it shows what your current (default) start orb looks like inactive, when hovered over, and when selected. Click the orb on the right to select a new start button.
Here we browsed to the sample orbs folder, and selected one of them. Let’s give Windows the Media Center orb for a start orb. Click the orb you want, and then select open.
When you click Open, your screen will momentarily freeze and your taskbar will disappear. When it reappears, your computer will have gone from having the old, default Start orb style…
…to your new, exciting Start orb! Here it is default, and glowing when hovered over.
Now, the Windows 7 Start Orb Changer will change, and show your new Start orb on the left side. If you would like to revert to the default orb, simply click the folder icon to restore it. Or, if you would like to change the orb again, restore the original first and then select a new one.
The orbs don’t have to be round; here’s a fancy Windows 7 logo as the start button.
Windows 7 Start Icon Size
The start orb change will work in the Aero and Aero basic (which Windows 7 Start uses) themes, but will not show up in the classic, Windows 2000 style themes. Here’s how the new start button looks with the Aero Classic theme:
There are tons of orbs available, including this cute smiley, so choose one that you like to make your computer uniquely yours.
Conclusion
This is a cute way to make your desktop unique, and can be a great way to make a truly personalized theme. Let us know your favorite Start orb!
Link
READ NEXT- › How to Use the chroot Command on Linux
- › How to Make iPhone Apps Always Ask for Location Access
- › Do You Need an Antivirus on a Mac?
- › How to Hide Twitter Replies
- › How to Install Apps Directly On Your Apple Watch
The Start menu, which was missing from Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, has finally returned with Windows 10. Even though the Start screen is very much present and one can enable the Start screen in Windows 10 with a few mouse clicks, the all new Start menu is turned on by default on traditional desktops and notebooks where we use keyboard and mice (touchapd) as input devices.
As you may have observed by now, the Start menu in Windows 10 isn’t identical to the Start menu that we have seen in Windows 7 and Vista. The Windows 10’s Start menu includes elements from both Windows 7 as well as Windows 8, meaning it includes the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8.
By default, the left-side of the Start menu shows recently used and pinned programs, whereas the right-side shows live tiles. Users who don’t like these live tiles or users who would like to have a simple Start menu might want to make the Windows 10 Start menu look like Windows 7.
Windows 7 Start Icons
If you prefer to have a clean yet functional Start menu in Windows 10, all you need to do is follow the instructions mentioned in one of the two methods given below.
Make the Start menu of Windows 10 look like Windows 7
Method 1
The idea is to unpin all tiles that you see on the right-side of the Start to get the clean but functional Start menu. Even though it’s not identical to the Start menu of Windows 7, you will get a close version of it without installing third-party utilities. And if you want to make your Windows 10 Start menu look identical to Windows 7 Start menu, please skip to Method 2.
Windows 7 Start Menu Icon For Classic Shell
Step 1: Open the Start menu.
Step 2: Right-click on all app tiles on the right-side of the Start menu one-by-one and then click Unpin from Start option.
Step 3: Once all the tiles are removed, you should get what you’re looking for.
Method 2
Windows 7 Start menu in Windows 10 using third-party tools
And if you would like to have the exact Start menu of Windows 7 in Windows 10, you have plenty of free and paid Start menu programs to choose from.
Classic Shell, ViStart Menu, and IObit Start menu are some of the best free Start menu programs that you can install to get Windows 7 style Start menu in Windows 10. Among the lot, Classic Shell seems to the most popular Start menu program.
Windows 7 Start Icon
And if you’re on Windows 7 and want to have Windows 10’s Start menu, please follow our Windows 10 Start menu for Windows 7 guide.