Tennis Screen Logos F.A.Q.

Tennis Screen Logos F.A.Q.

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1.0 General Logo Questions

1.1 What is an startup logo ?

A startup logo is the picture displayed while Windows 95/98 starts up, by default the Windows logo on a cloud background with a moving bar at the bottom of the screen. This picture can be replaced easily on most Windows 95/98 machines with a custom logo.

1.2 Why would I want to change the startup logo ?

Why not ? Actually it can be for your own amusement, humor helps with computers a lot of the time. Additionally it can be a bit of promotion, show your Tennis logo while starting your computer rather than the Microsoft logo.

1.3 What do I need to use a replacement logo ?

First you need a computer that is running Windows 95/98. Unfortunately not all Windows 95/98 machines can use the logos, there are some customized versions of Windows 95/98 specific to certain PC manufacturers that use a different startup logo scheme. If you download the logo off the Internet it is most likely in an archive file (the most common is .ZIP) so you will need a tool to extract the logo. If you've got these, you should be able to use a replacement logo.

2.0 Windows 95/98 Logo Installation

2.1 The short instructions for installing a Windows 95/98 startup logo.

Copy your new logo file to C:\LOGO.SYS (Backup your original first, if there is one)
That's it, pretty simple isn't it ? But it wont always work, see the other questions about installing.

2.2 I can't find any .SYS files on my system.

The Windows Explorer has an option to hide certain types of files, and .SYS files is one of these types. To change this option, open an explorer window, and select the menu VIEW | OPTIONS... This should bring up a dialog box with a View tab in it. The first setting in the dialog is Hidden Files with two options, 'Show All Files', and 'Hide Files of These Types' make sure the first 'Show All Files' is selected, the click OK to close the dialog, now look for those .SYS files. You may want to re-enable this option after installing your logo, and for advanced users there is a way to change the file types that get hidden.

2.3 All files are shown, but I still can't find a LOGO.SYS

If the startup logo has never been changed, there will probably be no C:\LOGO.SYS, the standard logo is built into another file so if there is no LOGO.SYS, the default logo will show up. Simply place your new file in the C:\ directory and rename it to LOGO.SYS, and it should be shown next time you boot.

2.4 I replaced the LOGO.SYS, but the original logo still displays.

There are usually two different possibilities in this case, the first and most common is that you C: drive has been compressed, in which case the LOGO file needs to be placed on the HOST drive. The second possibility is that either the logo wasn't placed in C:\ or named LOGO.SYS

2.5 I never see a logo when I boot.

There are two solutions to this problem. Well, actually two ways of doing the same thing. The problem is usually that the LOGO is disabled in the system file MSDOS.SYS (It's a text file under Windows 95/98) There will probably be a line in this file that says LOGO=0 open the file with notepad, and change the line to LOGO=1 or if LOGO=0 doesn't exist in the file, add the line LOGO=1 to the file, please pay attention to the notes in the file MSDOS.SYS about filesize, it is important that the file be at least a certain size. OR if you don't want to take the chance of messing around with a system file, download the Microsoft PowerToys Utility TWEAKUI which has an option under it's 'Boot' tab of 'Display splash screen while booting' that changes the option in MSDOS.SYS for you. TWEAKUI has a number of other very useful features that makes it invaluable to the Windows 95/98 user.
Please note that if you have a compressed C: drive, the MSDOS.SYS that needs to be modified is on the HOST drive.

2.6 What about the Wait and Shutdown Logos in Windows 95/98 ?

They can also be changed, the files are in your WINDOWS directory, the 'Please Wait' logo is named LOGOW.SYS, and the 'Shutdown' logo is named LOGOS.SYS, these logos must be the same size and format as a Startup Logo, however they show no animation. PLEASE be sure to BACKUP your original logos before replacing them, if you want the originals back you'll need the backup. After backing up the originals, simply copy your replacement logo over top of the original LOGOS.SYS or LOGOW.SYS.

3.0 How can I change what files Windows 95/98 hides by default ?

This is ONLY for advanced users who are comfortable with modifying their system files, and know how to use a HEX editor. So as a result the description will be very sparse. I really like being able to hide certain directories on my system, such as MOST of the subdirectories under WINDOWS, but they will only be hidden in explorer if the option to hide Specific files is turned on, unfortunately this means DLL's and SYS files are hidden as well, which REALLY annoys me. The list of files that Windows 95 hides by default is hard coded in the system file SHELL32.DLL, by booting to DOS, and making a copy of this file then hex editing this file you can change what they are. Search SHELL32.DLL for one of the extensions that is hidden (I use VXD) you will find a list of the 5 file types, change the types you wish to hide, (I replaced dll with gid, and sys with ocx), save the file, and reboot with the new SHELL32.DLL file in place. Your choice of files should now be hidden when you turn on the option in the explorer, and now any files / directories who's attributes are changed to include hidden will be hidden as well.