Windows 7 to officially support logon UI background customization

[.Neo]

Oh well, it's the next logical step from those OEM PCs covered in company stickers.

[Ambroos]

I just hope they increase the maximum allowed file size. The current maximum size is just not enough for higher resolutions.

[Lord Ba'al]

  starless.bible.black said:

this must be a secret hidden MS April fools joke. It happened on my notebook too just last night.

Yes, possibly... who knows :shifty:

  bradsh said:

1. OEMs are likely to change these. Expect a huge DELL or SONY logo on your login screen out of the box.

2. It requires the registry to change, and they might not include a user interface for this functionality.

3. So, many users will have big ugly OEM logos on their login screen and not know how to change/fix it.

Whoever is stupid enough to buy an overpriced crap prefab computer from Dell etc., fully deserves to look at an ugly login screen :devil:

Besides that, 2. is outright wrong. *Anyone* can change it, as regedit is included in *any* version of Win7, including Starter.

  Ambroos said:

I just hope they increase the maximum allowed file size. The current maximum size is just not enough for higher resolutions.

Yes, it's indeed difficult to do a good 1920x1200 login screen in tiny 246kB :(

[Guest xiphi]

  Lord Ba said:

Whoever is stupid enough to buy an overpriced crap prefab computer from Dell etc., fully deserves to look at an ugly login screen

Not everyone has time to build their own computer. Not to mention, no one can build a laptop from the ground up. You really need to start thinking before you type.

  Quote

Besides that, 2. is outright wrong. *Anyone* can change it, as regedit is included in *any* version of Win7, including Starter.

Just because regedit is in every edition of Windows doesn't mean anyone can change it. Not everyone has the patience or know-how to work with the registry. Remember, what's simple to you isn't to others. So, again, think before you type.

[Lord Ba'al]

  xiphi said:

You really need to start thinking before you type.

Out of the mouth of someone who puts that epic fail Onecare on a pedestal, this is extremely hypocritical :rofl:

[Guest xiphi]

  Lord Ba said:

Out of the mouth of someone who puts that epic fail Onecare on a pedestal, this is extremely hypocritical :rofl:

So, I'm a hypocrite because I actually prefer to use a decent A/V that doesn't bug the holy crap out of me and slow down my system? You can choose to rely on statistics all you want, they mean nothing in the real world. Every A/V has its ups and downs. OneCare just happens to suite me and many others.

[Owen W Veteran]

  starless.bible.black said:

this must be a secret hidden MS April fools joke. It happened on my notebook too just last night.

That, or they pushed an update. I noticed this after doing an update from the automated windows update service.

[Lord Ba'al]

  xiphi said:

So, I'm a hypocrite because I actually prefer to use a decent A/V

No, you're a hypocrite because you prefer to *not* use a decent AV, even though it has been pointed out to you how much of a failure Onecare is.

You can go on living with a false sense of security in your pretty pink Onecare dreamworld, but don't come here crying when something bad happens to you because you only had very shoddy protection :pinch:

I just never bugs you because it never finds anything.

  Owenw said:

That, or they pushed an update. I noticed this after doing an update from the automated windows update service.

I doubt that has anything to do with it... it would make no sense to push an update that disables custom login screens.

[Guest xiphi]

  Lord Ba said:

No, you're a hypocrite because you prefer to *not* use a decent AV, even though it has been pointed out to you how much of a failure Onecare is.

You can go on living with a false sense of security in your pretty pink Onecare dreamworld, but don't come here crying when something bad happens to you because you only had very shoddy protection :pinch:

I just never bugs you because it never finds anything.

I doubt that has anything to do with it... it would make no sense to push an update that disables custom login screens.

We can go back and forth on this forever, but the fact is I choose OneCare because I'm happy with the results it gives over any others. Is that so hard get over? I don't base my experience on some trivial statistics. As I've stated before, they mean nothing in the real world.

Do you have complete trust in the A/V that you use and in the applications you use every day?

[hanko panko]

  Lord Ba said:

No, you're a hypocrite because you prefer to *not* use a decent AV, even though it has been pointed out to you how much of a failure Onecare is.

You can go on living with a false sense of security in your pretty pink Onecare dreamworld, but don't come here crying when something bad happens to you because you only had very shoddy protection :pinch:

I just never bugs you because it never finds anything.

I doubt that has anything to do with it... it would make no sense to push an update that disables custom login screens.

Please calm down Mylord.

Noblesse oblige and Lords should be able to take a few punches before starting to "hack and slash". From what I see, all parties did bring forward valid points here. Just adapt your style a bit.

[bradsh]

I don't use any antivirus at all. A month back I installed AVG for kicks. It didn't find anything. AV is largely unnecessary unless you are retarded or pirate a lot of stuff from untrustworthy sources. I stopped using bulky, slow, performance reducing antivirus programs in 2003 and never looked back. I don't use a firewall either! OMG!

[UncleSpellbinder]

  bradsh said:

I don't use any antivirus at all. A month back I installed AVG for kicks. It didn't find anything. AV is largely unnecessary unless you are retarded or pirate a lot of stuff from untrustworthy sources. I stopped using bulky, slow, performance reducing antivirus programs in 2003 and never looked back. I don't use a firewall either! OMG!

If you have the memory and the space (I do, see my specs), having an AV is not an issue. No slowing down of

the system, no nags (unless something is found). An AV is just good common sense. Nothing more, nothing less.

[ToneKnee]

Both of you shut up.

[Lord Ba'al]

:busted: Yet another mystery solved - found out the reason for the sudden Logon UI customisation deactivation :cool:

The cause for this is in the .theme files that comes with Windows (all theme files that are in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes and C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes). They all have a line that deactivates custom Logon Ui screens, right at the beginning under [Theme] that goes:

SetLogonBackground=0

If you change this to 1 (you need to take ownership of the .theme files for this), then Logon UI customisation will be enabled again :woot:

This also works if you didn't edit the registry yet to change it. Thus, you can simply change it with a theme file without having to edit the registry.

[Ambroos]

  Lord Ba said:

:busted: Yet another mystery solved - found out the reason for the sudden Logon UI customisation deactivation :cool:

The cause for this is in the .theme files that comes with Windows (all theme files that are in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes and C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes). They all have a line that deactivates custom Logon Ui screens, right at the beginning under [Theme] that goes:

SetLogonBackground=0

If you change this to 1 (you need to take ownership of the .theme files for this), then Logon UI customisation will be enabled again :woot:

This also works if you didn't edit the registry yet to change it. Thus, you can simply change it with a theme file without having to edit the registry.

I guess they're really trying to stop visual styles and go back to all-in-one themes with sounds, screensavers, cursors, wallpapers and logon screens in a pack... Nice move from my point of view! People loved Plus! themes in Windows 98.

[Lord Ba'al]

  Ambroos said:

I guess they're really trying to stop visual styles and go back to all-in-one themes with sounds, screensavers, cursors, wallpapers and logon screens in a pack... Nice move from my point of view! People loved Plus! themes in Windows 98.

You can't put the logon screen in a theme (even though that might be handy), just enable or disable logon customisation with a theme.

Perhaps they later expand it so that the logon screen can be included, along with a bigger maximum size for the logon screen - but hey, I'm already happy if they just do the latter :laugh:

[Minifig]

I think they've pulled this in RC! D:

I can't find it ANYWHERE!

[UncleSpellbinder]

  Andrew-DB said:

I think they've pulled this in RC! D:

I can't find it ANYWHERE!

Working fine here.

Build 7100 RC (64-Bit) using TweaksLogon

Edited May 6, 2009 by UncleSpellbinder

[+Tyranade Subscriber²]

  UncleSpellbinder said:

Working fine here.

Build 7100 RC (64-Bit) using TweaksLogon

Just tried that, it works : ).

[Lord Ba'al]

  UncleSpellbinder said:

Working fine here.

Build 7100 RC (64-Bit) using TweaksLogon

Working fine here as well.

[wrack]

I have set mine to a black image of 1X1 pixel with 1 KB size. Loving the all black look.

[link8506]

I just made another LogonUI background changer app.

http://www.julien-manici.com/windows_7_log...ground_changer/

Technical infos : it is wpf/3d based, and requires admin privileges only the first time you run it (you can also run the provided cmd file as admin if you don't trust my program and don't want to give it admin rights). It'll be open source when I'll have fixed the performance issues.

[sibot]

Isn't there any way this can be done natively on 7? Without the use of any 3rd party app?

EDIT: I'm using GreenMartian's app and it works perfectly. Thank you.

Edited May 20, 2009 by sibot

[MikeChipshop Member]

  Tech Star said:

I don't think that it is ugly. :/ I am glad Microsoft is moving towards a customizable Windows out of the box. :D

I don't think it's ugly at all either.

First time i booted up though i thought it was Windows 7 twitter version!

[dcoaster]

@link8506: That is a cool application! I just tried it, but it crashed when I applied the background. =(