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Overview:
With a Windows keyboard, press your "Windows" key and hold. Then press your "Pause/Break" key.
With a standard keyboard, you will have to do it the old fashioned way. Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel, open the System Properties applet. Click the appropriate O/S below to see how I have edited my System Properties panels.
Win98
WinY2K
No doubt you noticed a couple of other modifications to the panels. We are only going to deal with the "Oemlogo.bmp" and "Oeminfo.ini" files which control how the lower half of the panels appear.
For Win98, the 2 files, "Oemlogo.bmp" and "Oeminfo.ini" are located in the C:\Windows\System folder.
For WinY2K, The 2 files, "Oemlogo.bmp" and "Oeminfo.ini" are located in the C:\WINNT\System32 folder. Depending on where you loaded your O/S, exchange the "C:" in the pathway above to your drive letter.
Steps For Adding/Changing The Oemlogo
( We'll be using MS Paint for this tutorial )
Open MS Paint and in the toolbar, click on Image and then Attributes. Set the Units as "Pixels" and the Width to 182, Height 114. These are the maximums for W x H in pixels for the bitmap to work properly. You can set it smaller if you like. This would be called your canvas size when set.
Draw, cut, paste what ever image you would like to have show up on your panel.
To match the background colour of your bitmap creation to the actual colour of your System properties panel, grab the bottom right canvas corner marker, stretch the canvas quite a bit larger.
Open up your System Properties panel with a Windows key + Pause/Break key, (Or Start, Settings, Control Panel, System Properties applet) and do a Alt + PrtScn key combo to copy the active panel.
( If you would like to know more about this print Screen technique, check out screencapture.beemerworld.com )
Close the System Properties applet.
Bring up the MS Paint window you have been working on and in the toolbar click on Edit, Paste. Drag the pasted image off your created Oemlogo design. You only need a corner of the panel to be showing.
Use the Pick Colour tool, (eyedropper in other programs) to take a sample colour of your pasted System Properties panel.
Now click on your Fill With Color tool and fill the areas needed to match backgrounds. This is the only way you will match the background of your bitmap image to the System Properties panel when viewed.
Now that you have the proper background for the Oemlogo bitmap you are creating, crop it down to size using the canvas markers. Check the Attributes to make sure the canvas has retained its necessary size.
Tip:
Click on View, Zoom, Large Size. This will make it easier to see the edges of your logo.
Now you can save this image to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder for Win98 or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder for WinY2K.
Name the file, Oemlogo . The .bmp extension will be automatically added to the file name.
Now for the moment of reckoning. Bring up your System Properties panel using what ever method you have been using throughout this tutorial and ......Is it there? Congratulations! You have branded your System Properties control panel appearance with your own custom OEM logo.
Adding/Changing the System Information Button:
The System Information button can contain readily available info such as your ISP's emergency phone number, system spec's, etc, etc. Since it is very easy to bring up your System Properties panel with a Windows key + Pause/Break key combo, you might want to create, (if it isn't already installed) this button.
The file that controls the contents of this button is the Oeminfo.ini file located in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder for Win98 or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder for WinY2K. It should be right above the Oemlogo.bmp file we have been playing with.
If you have the button already on your System Properties panel, you are able to change the information displayed when clicking on this button.
Mouse your way to the Oeminfo file.
If you don't have a Oeminfo.ini file, proceed to Create A Oeminfo File: in the section below.
Double click on the Oeminfo file to open it.
If this doesn't work, read step 5. If it worked, step 7.
Right click on the Oeminfo file and from the context menu select Open With...
The Open With... panel opens up. If there is a check mark in the, "Always use this program to open these files" checkbox, remove it. Select Notepad from the programs window below and click open.
You will have something resembling the text below:
[General]
Manufacturer=Thunderbird
Model=PC 133/CAS2 1110 MHz
[Support Information]
Line1=Cablelan 1-888-681-9688
Line2=Pager 1-800-811-0619
Line3=I.P. XXX.XXX.XX.XXX
Line4=Gateway 139.142.91.1
Line5=SMTP 139.142.82.12
Line6=Pop3 139.142.82.12
Line7=Favourite Electronics Shop
Line8=Girl/Boy friends Phone #
Line9=What ever!
Edit the lines accordingingly and click File, Save.
Open your System Properties panel and see if it's there. Congratulations Again!
Create a Oeminfo File:
If you don't have this button already installed, you can easily create one. The Oeminfo file is only a Notepad text file saved with a .ini extension.
Open a Notepad window.
You can swipe and copy and paste these next lines into your Notepad window:
[General]
Manufacturer=Thunderbird
Model=PC 133/CAS2 1110 MHz
[Support Information]
Line1=Cablelan 1-888-681-9688
Line2=Pager 1-800-811-0619
Line3=I.P. XXX.XXX.XX.XXX
Line4=Gateway 139.142.91.1
Line5=SMTP 139.142.82.12
Line6=Pop3 139.142.82.12
Line7=Favourite Electronics Shop
Line8=Girl/Boy friends Phone #
Line9=What ever!
Now change the lines to your own information. Only change what comes after the equals sign.
Save this by Clicking File, Save as, navigate to your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder for Win98 or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder for WinY2K. In the File name: slot, type Oeminfo.ini . In the Save as type: All Files
Click Save
Go take a peek at the System Properties panel. Congratulations! once more on a job well done.
