 How To Customise Your I.E. and Email Logo
Why watch the spinning globe or the windows flag on your browser and email client when you can design your own creative custom icons.
It's MUCH easier than you think.
Prepare the images
To 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 (if you want a 10 frame icon)
1 bitmap 38x380 pixels (if you want a 10 frame icon)
Curious about the odd sizes? Keep reading. All will be revealed shortly.
Insert the still logo
This is what you are going to see when IE is resting. You need both images, because your toolbar can be two sizes.
1. Run Regedit: Press WinKey+R and type regedit then press enter
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
3. Locate or create two new string values named SmallBitmap and BigBitmap.
4. Make these string values the full path name of your images. e.g: C:\windows\icons\youricon.bmp
5. (I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the small image goes in "SmallBitmap" and so on).
Insert the animated logo
Here is the part you have been waiting for a 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 and one of 10 images 38x38 (38x380).
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.
1. Run Regedit: Press WinKey+R and type regedit then press enter.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar
3. Create two new string values (or modify the existing values) and call them SmBrandBitmap and BrandBitmap.
4. Make these string values the full path name of your images. e.g: C:\windows\icons\youriconS.bmp
5. Start I.E. and search for a web site to see your handy work.
The animated Bitmaps, both 22x220 and 38x380 are made up of 10 images, these can be whatever you desire, from photo’s to clipart, to just letters or names, but they MUST be saved as bitmaps for them to work.
You can easily create different effects, two that I have tried are making the animated bitmaps 22x352 pixels which is 16 frame and 38x 608, again 16 frames.
1st effect was to have the intials of me and my wife (see below) and place the two top frames (22x22 bmp’s) with the letters normal, then two frames with the letters at 90 degree,s then two at 180 degree,s (upside down) and finally two at 270 degrees. Then just copy and paste the eight frames (in the same order) below them. This gave me a smooth spinning effect when surfing the net.
2nd effect was again to copy two each of the same frame, but this time keep reducing the size of the letters or image by 10% on the second set of two and so forth, after four sets of two start to increase the image by 10% on each of the two sets until you are back to full size. (8 sets of two images, 4 decreasing in size and 4 increasing). This will give you a pulsing effect.
Once you are happy with your work, you can create more effects but you must save them with the same names as the originals for an instant change (there is no need to mess with the registry again).
Alan | 
