One of the things that makes it such a great program is it's
capacity to allow the user to configure so many parts of it to the
user's own personal preferences. Experimentation with the Control
Panel, especially the specialty palette, should result in color
settings that can please anyone's taste.
One of the things that Microsoft does not yet let one
customize are the boring Group Icons in the Program Manager. (I'm
hoping that Microsoft fixes this in the next version.) Until you
get into a specific group, it all looks pretty drab. All of the
icons are identical, so that you cannot select them on the basis
of differences in color or design, as one should be able to do with
a GUI. This has lead some people to "save" the program manager, at
the end of a session, so that it next starts with several groups
already opened.
I was personally determined to find a way to change the icons
themselves. I uploaded several messages to Compuserve's Window's
forum, but everyone said it couldn't be done.
They were, in fact, both right and wrong. After some time with
the Windows' Technical Reference Manual, and several hours of
experimentation, I have learned a great deal about group icons.
It is, first of all, correct that the Program Manager group
icons cannot yet be differentiated. Unlike what one can do through
the "Properties" utility for individual programs (which is great,
and has led to the development of hundreds of creative icons),
there is no way to get the PM to call anything but the same group
file icon for every group. The Program Manager simply makes the
same icon call to the section in itself where the group icon map
is located. (The PM also contains the eight other basic PM icons:
windows, DOS, etc).
It is possible, however, to modify the internal map of the
Group Icon, so that at least the multiple opening group icons look
more colorful and reflective of the Windows user. The following procedure
will allow the user to change the colors of the 3 lower file folders in the icon, the 3 upper folders, and the top border. (With just a little more experimentation, it is also possible to modify the design of the icon and colors in the remaining areas: side border, internal background, etc).
What you need:
1. To take personal responsibility for the modifications to
the Program Manager that you make.
2. A back-up copy of the Progman.exe file, in case you make
a mistake.
3. A file sector editor: Professional Master-Key, Norton, etc.
4. A VGA display, I think. PM contains and calls different
icon maps depending on the kind of display that Windows believes
that you are using. I have only found, and worked with, the map
called for VGA. You can try these changes for other displays, but
I'm not sure what you'll get.
What to do:
1. Load Progman.exe into the file edit area of the sector
editor.
2. Go to relative sector 102. (All of the icon maps are
located at this end of the PM file.) You should see a display like
that below. I have marked with symbols the 3 sections of bytes that
you will want to change. (There will be other numbers/letters
