Windows 7 - Custom Login Backgrounds

Windows 7 will officially support the customization of backgrounds on the “Login” screen. The find was discovered by Rafael Rivera Jr. over at his blog. Rivera discovered the new feature in the 7057 build of Windows 7 that was released just last week for download on torrent websites.

Seven now supports the background customization without third party software, like Stardock, or hacks.

Windows 7 Default Login Screen (7057)

Windows 7 Customized Login Screen (7057)

Rivera explains how to use the background customization:

First, a check is made to determine if the customization functionality is enabled or not. More precisely, a DWORD value named OEMBackground in the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background key is checked. Its data, of Boolean type, defines whether or not this behavior is turned on, i.e. 1 for enabled, 0 for disabled. This value may not exist by default, depending on your system.

Afterwards, if customization is enabled, the primary monitor’s screen height and width are retrieved via calls to GetSystemMetrics. These values are used in the computation of the screen width (w)/height (h) ratio. For example, my desktop resolution is 1920 x 1200. The ratio, computed by the division of w/h, is 1.6:1.

The result of this computation is looked up in an internal table that drives what image to load on disk. Although I don’t have a large enough monitor to test, it appears resolutions higher than 1920 x 1200 will force the loading and zooming of an image of closest compatibility (i.e. same ratio, smaller image).

As this is an OEM feature images are derived from %windir%\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds. Like the registry value, this folder may not exist by default. The following files (sorted by width-to-height ratio) are supported in this folder:

• backgroundDefault.jpg
• background768 x 1280.jpg
• background900 x 1440.jpg
• background960 x 1280.jpg
• background1024 x 1280.jpg
• background1280 x 1024.jpg
• background1024 x 768.jpg
• background1280 x 960.jpg
• background1600 x 1200.jpg
• background1440 x 900.jpg
• background1920 x 1200.jpg
• background1280 x 768.jpg
• background1360 x 768.jpg

NOTE: Images must be less than 256kb in size.

The backgroundDefault.jpg image is loaded and stretched-to-fit when a resolution/ratio-specific background cannot be found. The other resolution/ratio-specific files are self-explanatory. If the background cannot be loaded (e.g. image physically too large, incorrect ratio, etc.), the default SKU-based image is loaded from imagesres.dll. You’ll see a Windows Server-themed grayish background in there, too, suggesting this functionality is not specific to client SKUs.

Top 15 Essential Apps & Codecs post Windows 7 Install

So you've just installed the new Windows 7 Beta (build 7000). You've created your user profile, logged in for the first time and installed any missing drivers. What next?

Here's the list of apps and codecs I install within the first 30 minutes.

00. Windows Update - technically not an install but I run it first. Everytime.

01. Windows Live Essentials suite - FREE
Includes Windows Live Messenger, Photo Gallery, Writer & Mail. Also includes Silverlight
02. Live Mesh - FREE
All my files are synced across my various machines with Live Mesh. I also take full advantage of the 5GB of cloud storage
03. WinRAR - Shareware (US$29)
My favorite compression and archiving tool. Supports basically any archive format you throw at it including ISO and Linux archives
04. AVG Free Anti-Virus - FREE
Light weight, free anti-virus protection. Does require updates to be manually installed though
05. Firefox (plus Flash & DownThemAll) - FREE
IE8 is my default browser however it is still in beta and there are a few web sites out there that render better in Firefox. DownThemAll is an amazing download utility that dramatically speeds up download times
06. VLC Media Player - FREE
Basically a Quicktime replacement as VLC can playback most *.MOV files
07. Xvid Codec - FREE
*Update* Windows Media Player 12 (found in the Windows 7 beta) natively supports Xvid, Divx and MP4 codecs however if (like me) you have a couple of videos in your collection that don't play correctly try installing the Xvid codec.
For decoding Xvid, Divx and MP4 video files in Windows Media Player
08. AC3 Filter - FREE
*Update* As above - you may not need this codec but if you find you're not getting any sound when plating back a video file it might an AC3/DTS issue.
Audio filter that enables Windows Media Player to playback movies with AC3 and DTS audio tracks
09. ImgBurn - FREE
*Update* Windows 7 burns ISO images natively so this tool is mainly used for creating ISO images.
Great CD/DVD burning and ISO creation utility
10. Easy CD-DA Extractor - 30 Day Free Trial (US$37)
*Update* I primarily use Easy CD-DA Extractor for converting from one file format to the other ie. lossless to MP3 and for the odd CD that WMP12 is unable to rip for me.
"The Swiss Army Knife of Digital Audio" pretty much sums up Easy CD-DA Extractor. I still buy physical CD's from real music stores,... how crazy is that!! Easy CD-DA Extractor allows me to back-up my discs and convert to MP3 for storage on my Windows Home Server
11. Paint.NET - FREE
*Update* The new Paint application in Windows 7 is a great update but if you need to work with some basic layers or some more advanced features then Paint.NET is a great tool.
Simple yet powerful free Photoshop alternative. Not quite as comprehensive as GIMP but does the basics and does them well
12. SharePod - FREE
iTunes alternative for transferring tracks on (and off) ipods
13. Skype (version 4.0 Beta 3) - FREE
I think we all know what Skype is
14. FileZilla - FREE
Light weight, free FTP Utility. Supports file resume
15. Microsoft Office 2007 - 60 Day Free Trial (from US$80)
Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint are my essentials although Windows Live Mail is a great alternative if you don't need the complexity of Outlook

What have I missed? What other apps & codecs do you install during the first 30 minutes after an OS rebuild?

Check out Larry's Top 10 Fresh Machine Installs for more.

Unlock Hidden Themes in Windows 7

In addition to the handful of themes built in to Window 7, there are others which can be downloaded from the Windows 7 web site, and those created by independent third-party designers. But did you know that there are even more themes hidden within the OS itself? According to WinVistaClub, these hidden themes were meant for different regions like Australia, Canada, Great Britain, United States and South Africa. But thanks to their handy instructions, you can unlock these themes easily so you have more options with which to customize your Windows 7 desktop.

To unlock the hidden themes, do the following:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Click Organize, and select Folder and Search Options.
3. Go to View tab.
4. Select Show hidden files, folders and drivers and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). If prompted with confirmation, click Yes.
5. Click OK.
6. Browse to the following folder:
\Windows\Globalization\MCT\
7. There are five folders in the name with format MCT-XX (where XX is AU, CA, GB, US, or ZA) which represents globalization settings for each region. Go into the folder that you want to activate its theme.
Note: AU, CA and ZA regions have the same themes.
8. Open the Theme folder inside the selected region folder.
9. Double click on the XX.theme file to apply the theme to the Windows 7 desktop system. Once a theme is ran and activated, the theme will be remembered and saved into Personalization options, so that user can change or select the theme again directly from Personalization settings screen.
10. Now to go to Folder Options to reverse the first 5 steps to hide the hidden and protected system files and folders again.

After unlocking, there will be more themes for available for customization.

Install Windows 7 Using a USB Stick

If you downloaded the ISO file of Windows 7 but then discovered you didn’t have a blank DVD to burn it to, you’ll be happy to know that there are other ways available. Specifically, you can use a USB stick to install the OS – a handy trick, especially for installing Windows 7 on a netbook, which don’t typically have optical drives. For the full instructions on how to do this, Dennis Chung has posted a video over on TechNet Edge that explains what you need to do, step-by-step. Be sure to read through the comments, too, for more advice and tips that may not have been covered in the original video.