Remove Branding From Your IE Browser
Strip that irritating logo from view once and for all.
People putting their logos on your computer? Terrible. Some companies just have no class. Even worse, they rely on the fact that the average computer user is unwilling or unable to hack their registry to get rid of the offensive logos.I have a secret for you. It's easier than you think to remove the branding from your Internet Explorer browser.
Gaze upon your branded logo for the last time.
Close all browser windows.
Go to Start, choose Run, and type or paste "rundll32 iedkcs32.dll,Clear" without the quotes.
Hit Enter.
Open a browser window. Jump with joy as you gaze upon your default browser branding.OK, stop celebrating; I am about to rain on your parade. Now that you have your default browser back, may I offer the opinion that your browser is still branded? Yes, it's branded with the Internet Explorer logo rather than your ISP's, but it is branded nonetheless. Microsoft has its face all over everything else, does it really need to be in your browser too? The answer, of course, is no. You do not need to look at the Internet Explorer logo spinning in the corner. You can look at whatever you want! Maybe a picture of yourself spinning in the corner, or an eye blinking open and closed, or a dog running or even the infamous dancing baby. The process will take you a few minutes, but the steps are simple and straightforward, and it's worth it!
Prepare the imagesTo begin, you are going to need four bitmaps. You can make them in any paint program, including the one that comes with Windows. Two images are for the stills when Internet Explorer is resting, and two are to create the animation when the browser is "thinking."
These images are for the stills:1 bitmap 22x22 pixels
1 bitmap 38x38 pixels
These images are for the animations:1 bitmap 22x220 pixels
1 bitmap 38x380 pixels
Curious about the odd sizes? Keep reading. All will be revealed shortly.
Insert the still logoThis is what you are going to see when IE is resting. You need both images, because your toolbar can be two sizes.
Run Regedit: Click on Start, Run, and type in "regedit" -- without the quotes.
Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
Create two new string values named "SmallBitmap" and "BigBitmap" -- without the quotes.
Make the values of these string values the full path name of your images. (I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the small image goes in "SmallBitmap" and so on.)Close all your open IE browser windows and open a new one. You should be able to see the changes right away. If you can't see any changes, you've done something wrong.
Insert the animated logoHere is the part you have been waiting for: do-it-yourself animation.
Do you remember the sizes of the images I told you about above? Your small animated image should be a strip of 10 images, one above the other. The reason the images are 10 times as high as they are wide is because IE rolls the images just like a projector would run a roll of film. You have a series of 10 images that are 22x22 pixels, creating a 22x220 pixel strip.
The top frame of the animation is shown first, until the last frame is reached and the strip loops. The first frame will show statically until the browser is active, unless you have specified your resting image (which is explained above).
You are almost done. All you have left to do is add your new animations to the registry.
Run Regedit: Click on Start, Run, and type in "regedit" -- without the quotes.
Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar
Create two new string values (or modify the existing values) and call them "SmBrandBitmap" and "BrandBitmap."
Set their values equal to the full file names of the small and large images.Close all your IE windows and open a new one. Open a webpage and see what you've done.
Restore Original IE IconsWanna go back to the way it was before? Ya know, like before any branding took place? Simply remove the values, or use Xteq's X-Setup to reset the fields.
You could also dive into the aforementioned Registry key and delete the SmallBitmap and BigBitmap values.