     New Windows 3.1x Startup Logo + Windows 3.1x Desktop Wallpapers

                        Step by step procedures



Are you already tired of the same Win31 startup logo, when you load Win31
(or the same bitmap-wallpaper on your Windows 3.1x desktop) ?
If your answer is YES, read on...


To have a new logo displayed each time you load Win31 or/and a new Windows
desktop wallpaper on your Windows 3.1x background, you will need to do
the following:


1. Download the ZIPAPER utility from AOL (go to the Windows Software
area, keyword WINDOWS, Walpaper Utilities), or type ZIPAPER in the box,
when you bring up the File Search window (left-click on the magnifier
glass icon, on the AOL top icon menu) and download the file ZIPAPER.ZIP
(Wallpaper utility version 1.3c).
Unzip this ZIP archive with Winzip version 6.0 (or better) 16bit version,
found in any AOL software area (look for Essential Utilities).
Read the documentation that comes with Zipaper, and install it let's say
in the same directory with the Winzip files (let's call it \ZIP).


2. Use Paint Shop Pro version 3.1x (16bit) or better, or Lview Pro 1.B or
better (16bit), both found on AOL, to resize the bitmaps (wallpapers with
the BMP extension) you want to have displayed every time by Win31. Each
bitmap can be resized to 640x480x256 colors (to have a full screen
wallpaper).

3. You'll also need PKUNZIP.EXE, part of the PKWARE package, version
2.04g (contains PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE, essential DOS mode zip/unzip
utilities), also found in almost every AOL software area (it's easy to
find it in the Top Downloads areas of DOS or Windows areas). Download
the PKZIP/PKUNZIP package, and install (copy all the PKWARE files) to
the \ZIP folder, mentioned above.
Also download Winzip 6.0 or above for 95/NT, from the WIN95 area on AOL,
found in the "Hot! - Top Windows 95 Files" area. Download/copy the Winzip
setup file(s) into an empty directory and follow the install instructions
(choose to install WinZip in the \ZIP directory).
Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT (located in C:\ root) with Notepad or EDIT.COM and
add C:\ZIP to your PATH line. Example:
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\ZIP
Save the file and reboot.


4. Download VPIC version 6.1 (MS-DOS mode) a Picture Display and
Conversion Utility from the Graphics area on AOL (or type VPIC.ZIP into
AOL's File Search box, and download the VPIC.ZIP file), and then follow
the program's install instructions to install it into the \ZIP directory
(mentioned above).
After installing Vpic, READ its documentation files to understand how to
use it and adapt it to your own system configuration!
Add a command line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT for Vpic (see below), to display
your favorite bitmap before starting Windows 31/95 (most useable with
Windows 3.1x, to display a VGA 256 colors bitmap at Win31 startup, instead
of Windows 3.1x default EGA, 16 colors, RLE file).
Included in this archive is a RLE file (NOLOG.RLE) to reconstruct the
WIN.COM file used by Windows 3.1x. Run the following commands from any DOS
prompt (this small RLE allows you to start Win31 without displaying its
default logo). Place NOLOGO.RLE in your Windows 3.1x \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
directory (after you backed up your WIN.COM found in \WINDOWS) and run:
C:
CD\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
COPY /B /V WIN.CNF + VGALOGO.LGO + NOLOGO.RLE \WINDOWS\WIN.COM
The easy way: run NOLOGO.BAT included here (from this current directory),
to achieve the instructions above.
To restore your original WIN.COM file (that displays the original Microsoft
logo on Windows startup), run RESTLOGO.BAT also included here.
I presumed that your boot drive is C and your Windows 3.1x copy resides in
C:\WINDOWS. Change the drive/directories to your own system configuration
if different than above.
Using this new WIN.COM file to start Win31, without using Vpic to display
a VGA picture, will start Windows 3.1x WITHOUT ANY LOGO.
Example of Vpic lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (make these lines your last
autoexec.bat lines):
CD\ZIP
C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\BMPS.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
C:\ZIP\VPIC /R /Z C:\ZIP\WALPAPER.BMP
C:\ZIP\WAIT.COM 3
WIN
The WAIT.COM utility is included with the Vpic program files.
You need to have all your 256 colors full screen bitmaps, 640x480 (with
the BMP extension), zipped with Winzip or with PKZIP.EXE into the BMPS.ZIP
archive, in the \ZIP directory.
In order to use Vpic as a logo startup program, you can use many graphics
formats: BMP, GIF, PCX, PIC, TGA, TIF etc. If you are using any of these
picture formats with Vpic, just mention the file's extension, on the Vpic
line. Example:
C:\ZIP\VPIC /R /Z C:\GRAPHICS\MYPICT.BMP


5. You can use the DOS batch file included here, called NEWLOGO.BAT.
Place it in the \ZIP directory (mentioned above) and include the
following commands as the last lines of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
CALL C:\ZIP\NEWLOGO.BAT
WIN
or better, copy its lines as the last lines of your AUTOEXEC.BAT (before
the WIN line) to have a new startup logo displayed every time you load
Windows 3.1x. NEWLOGO.BAT contents:
@C:
@CD\
@C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\BMPS.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
Change the drive letter if other than C (and Win95's directory name, if
other than \WINDOWS).


6. You can use the same steps to have a new bitmap displayed as your
desktop wallpaper, every time you load Windows 3.1x or WfWG 3.11. All you
have to do, is load Win31 from a DOS batch file, which needs to include
the following lines (change the drive letter if other than C):
@C:
@CD\
@C:\ZIP\ZIPAPER C:\ZIP\BMPS.ZIP C:\ZIP\PKUNZIP.EXE /NR
@WIN %1 %2
Prior to this, zip all your full screen size wallpapers (.BMP-s),
640x480x256colors (size and number of colors are optional) into a zip
file called BMPS.ZIP, and place it in the same folder, \ZIP. Then
add/modify these lines into the [Desktop] section of your WIN.INI
file, found in your Windows directory (default \WINDOWS):
[Desktop]
TileWallPaper=0
BmpDir=C:\
WallPaper=C:\WALPAPER.BMP



Conclusion

It's nice to have a bunch of bitmaps in a zip file, so they don't
take much space on your hard disk (and have Windows show up with a
different full screen wallpaper every time it loads). I have 585
Windows style wallpapers (.BMP), 640x480x256colors bitmaps, compressed
into a single zip file that takes only 65MB on my hard disk (if I would
unzip this archive, the 585 bitmaps would take 165MB of disk space!).
I also archived 85 windows bitmaps (.BMP) 129,078 in size (320x400x256)
into a single zip file, to have a different logo each time I boot up
my machine with the Win95 OS. This zip takes about 4.5MB of disk space,
instead of 10.5MB (unzipped). To make all these work, I need to start
both WfWG 3.11 and Windows 95 from a batch file, which is also included
here (you can open W31.BAT with Notepad).

UPDATE: I included here a 16 colors full screen (640x480) Windows
        background picture, you can use as your desktop wallpaper.
        To use MYMENU.BMP as Windows wallpaper, move it to your Windows
        directory, and then open Control Panel, double-click Desktop,
        and in the Wallpaper box, scroll down to the MYMENU.BMP file.
        Highlight it, and click OK. Also make sure to check the Center
        box. Enjoy.


... And Credits:

1. The following programs are SHAREWARE (make sure you READ the
   documentation files included with each utility):
 - PkWare, PKZip/PKUnzip are trademarks of PKWare Incorporated.
 - Zipaper is trademark of Daniel Thomas.
 - Lview Pro is trademark of Leonardo Haddad Loureiro.
 - Paint Shop Pro is trademark of JASC Incorporated.
 - WinZip is trademark of Niko Mak Computing Incorporated.
 - Vpic is trademark of Bob Montgomery.

NOTE: If you don't have an AOL account, and can't find one of the
      shareware programs mentioned above (although there are a lot
      of web and ftp sites that have these programs posted for DL),
      please let me know, and I will try to send you a copy, or
      find a web/ftp site that might have these files posted.
      You can also do a web search for these files, using a popular
      Web Search Engine, like Excite, Yahoo or WebCrawler:
      http://webcrawler.com

2. The following:
 - MS DOS 5.00,
 - MS-DOS 6.00,
 - MS-DOS 6.20,
 - MS-DOS 6.21,
 - MS-DOS 6.22,
 - MS-DOS 7.00,
 - MS Windows 3.00,
 - MS Windows 3.10,
 - MS Windows for WorkGroups 3.10,
 - MS Windows for WorkGroups 3.11,
 - MS Windows 95 and
 - MS Plus! for Windows 95
   are trademarks of Microsoft (COMERCIAL programs).


Hope you'll find something useful in here. Enjoy!
If you have any comments/ideas/questions/sugestions etc... send me a
"wire" at:
AXCEL216@aol.com

Regards and best of luck!