Tired of that Grey tool bar?

[pc-destroyer]

Here is a neat little trick I learned the other day.You can add your
Wallpapers or any .bmp file behind your toolbars.I currently have mine set on Clouds.bmp from windows and it looks much better than the old grey one.Not a necessity but just something to change the look every now and then.This works in Win98 but not sure about Win Me.Here is how to do it if anyone is intrested.



Open regedit
Open the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar.
If the right window pane doesn't have an entry called "BackBitmap,"
right-click on an empty space in the right window pane and select to
add a new string value and call it "BackBitmap."
Now double click on "BackBitmap" and type in the path of the bitmap
image file you would like to use as the background
(example: C:\windows\clouds.bmp).
Close the registry editor. You may have to relaunch Windows or
Internet Explorer to see the changes.

[reboot]

Or just go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Ie/WebAccess/default.ASP and the last 4 on the page are all the nice IE plugins, including Web Accessories, the Toolbar Wallpaper (which allows you to change toolbar wallpaper at any time, no registry diving needed), Power Tweaks Web Accessories, and Web Developer Accessories.

[pc-destroyer]

Thanks for the link reboot I will have to give it a try to.

[makan007]

http://www.hotbar.com/images/install/052301u2.jpg
Hotbar (http://www.hotbar.com/)
Download background images for your browser.

[reboot]

Instead of hotbar, just copy ANY pic you like (in .bmp format) to the C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Bitmaps folder, and use the windows toolbar tool. Again, you don't need any 3rd party program to do it for you, and you don't have to stick with just what windows gives you.

[HAL9000]

I used to use Hotbar until it started hammering the advertising garbage.

[PardeGT]

Originally posted by reboot
Instead of hotbar, just copy ANY pic you like (in .bmp format) to the C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Bitmaps folder, and use the windows toolbar tool. Again, you don't need any 3rd party program to do it for you, and you don't have to stick with just what windows gives you.

Where would I do this in win2k? I couldn't find a bitmap folder for IE.

Thanks

[azscary]

If you have downloaded Hotbar, check your computer for SpyWare. I had three pieces of SpyWare related to Hotbar when I ran Ad Aware.:eek:

[jrdvan]

PC-Destroyer I like your trick better, you can also right click on desktop,
left click customize desktop then click on the appearance tab from there
you can use the drop down menu to change the color of task bar, windows,etc.
wife uses all purple with black print kinda hard to read but she likes it.
Hotbar is spyware you can use ad-adware if you want to keep hotbar skins, caused problems for us had to get rid of it

[newme]

on the subject of spyware ive used ad aware and it causes my file sharing program kazaa from working any way around this or can someone tell me a differant program for file sharing.

[dldz]

I know I used to use that with IE5 but does it work on 6 ? I tried it awhile back and it did'nt work.

[Kubie]

dldz,
Despite the warning that it won't work with IE6, I d/l'd anyway and it works great.
Carl

[HAL9000]

Me too!

[dldz]

Huumm.... ok thanks guys I 'll go and get it right now and get the wife off my back ! :)

[dldz]

Yep ! worked like a charm, I just don't want to take many chances lately I have alot of stuff not back up right now and sometimes it's the little stuff that screws me up ! but now I got my zoom back & everything I'm a happy camper (and so will wifey):D

[teemro]

Me too!

[jon12345678]

Does the toolbar wallpaper program stretch the image? I've used the registry trick before but it tiled the image, forcing me back to hotbar.

[Orcmonkey]

Can't you do all of this in the group policy editor?

Start-Run-Gpedit.msc

[jon12345678]

Tried the IE toolbar wallpaper tool. It tiles the picture instead of stretching the picture. So if you have a lot of hotbar pictures you should stick with hotbar. If you make your own backgrounds this tool should be ok for you.

[fatboyjim]

newme: on the subject of spyware ive used ad aware and it causes my file sharing program kazaa from working any way around this or can someone tell me a differant program for file sharing?

Yes, it will stop your KaZaA from working as it needs to see a cydoor dll file (it's spyware) for it to work. Just add c:\windows\system32\cd_clint.dll to your Ignore list in Ad-Aware

It's certainly an idea to find the fix out there on the net somewhere which replaces your cydoor dll with a fake

Jim

[judgekiller]

to fix Kazaa..... just download Kazaa Lite..... http://www.kazaalite.com/
Enjoy.

[reboot]

To fix Kazaa, uninstall it, delete it, run ad-aware to get rid of the spyware, run regclean to get rid of the unnecessary registry entries, rebuild your TCP/IP stack to get back on the internet, and download WinMX, then do a full system virus/trojan scan.

[fatboyjim]

"rebuild your TCP/IP stack"

How do I go about doing this, reboot?

[Nuclear Krusader]

BTW, GoZilla users, if you remove spyware with Ad-Aware, GoZilla will stop working, same thing as with KaZaa.