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Windows 7 Login Screen Customization Without 3rd Party Software

Instructions

1. Type regedit in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background

3. Now in right-side pane, change value of OEMBackground to 1

4. Now go to following folder:
%windir%\System32\oobe

Here %windir% represents "Windows" folder present in the system drive where Windows 7 is installed.

5. Create a new folder "info" inside oobe folder. Then again create a new folder "backgrounds" inside info folder. So the final path would be:
%windir%\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds

6. Now copy any desired wallpaper to this new "backgrounds" folder but following conditions must be followed:

The image name must be backgroundDefault.jpg.
The image size must be less than 256 KB.
The image format must be JPG.


7. That's it. Once you copy the wallpaper to "backgrounds" folder, your Windows 7 login screen will start using this new wallpaper as background. You can check the new login screen background by logging off or locking Windows.

Windows 7 GodMode

Finally an Easter egg in Windows 7 !
A hidden "GodMode" feature that lets users access all of the operating system's control panels from within a single folder.
By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition.
The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash.
GodMode
To enter "GodMode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Once that is done, the folder's icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options.

NirCmd - Free command line tool for Windows XP and Vista

NirCmd - Free command line tool for Windows XP and Vista

Are you scared of using the Windows command prompt to accomplish tasks? If so, you’re definitely missing out on some cool stuff you can do on your computer. However, it’s understandable as the syntax can be quite technical and you really don’t want to mess something up if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Luckily, there is a free utility called NirCmd that you can use that extends the functionality of the command prompt and makes it a little bit easier to use DOS commands without having to know DOS.

NirCmd is a small command-line utility that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any command prompt user interface.

You can use it to do all kinds of useful stuff for you such as writing and deleting values registry keys, writing values into INI file, dialing your Internet account or connecting to a VPN network, restarting windows or shutting down the computer, creating a shortcut to a file, chaning the created/modified date of a file , changing your display settings, turning off your monitor (this we want ) , opening the door of your CD-ROM drive, and lots more!

The best thing about this program is that you can create a scheduled task to simple run any command you want at a set interval. So you can create a scheduled task to turn off your monitor or turn off your computer every day at midnight or to mute the volume on your computer every morning.




Now you could simply run any of the commands by going to the Windows command prompt and typing something in. For example, go to Start, then Run and then type in CMD. Now type in any command that was listed in the command list.

OR Just Create a Shortcut Like This.



Thats It ... Now You not only Tech Savvy ... Now You are Eco Savvy Too There is another utility called "WizMo" also serves the same purpose both are free, you can get them by (what I can say just ) google .





Here is High Tech Way - Recommended For Power Users only

PROGRAMMATICALLY



Code:

// console application
#include

#define SCREENSAVER_START 1
#define MONITOR_OFF 2

int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
int cmd = SCREENSAVER_START; // default when run
// is to start screensaver.

// if passed command line argument (no matter
// what it is), just turn off the monitor instead.
if( argc > 1 )
{
// could check argv,
cmd = MONITOR_OFF;
}

switch( cmd )
{
case SCREENSAVER_START:
SendMessage( HWND_TOPMOST,
WM_SYSCOMMAND,
SC_SCREENSAVE,
0 ); // send message to top most window
// for screensaver to start. that's just
// how you programmatically start the screensaver
// under windows!
break;

case MONITOR_OFF:
SendMessage( HWND_BROADCAST,
WM_SYSCOMMAND,
SC_MONITORPOWER,
(LPARAM)2 ); // turn off the monitor.
break;
}
}


Compile This and Make MonitorControl.EXE

Keep this Executable in Start Menu (or wherever you want ). And create 2 shortcuts:

One called “Monitor OFF” that has target

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Monitor Control\MonitorControl.exe” off

The other is called “ScreenSaver Start” and has target:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Monitor Control\MonitorControl.exe”

because running the executable with no arguments starts the screensaver.

How can I add a Command Prompt option to the Default Explorer Right Click Context Menu?

If you find that you frequently open a Command Prompt window and change to a specific directory, you can add the Command Prompt to your shortcut menu. This option enables you to right-click on a folder within Windows Explorer and choose the Command Prompt - which opens a Command Prompt window with that folder as your active directory.

To add the Command Prompt option to the default right click context menu in Windows Explorer you can do one of the following:

Method #1: Through the Registry

This is the simplest, easiest and most idiot-proof method.

Create a text file, type in the following lines and save it as addprompt.reg.



Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Command]
@="Command Prompt:"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Command\Command]
@="cmd.exe /k cd %1"


Save this out and double click the file. Note this will modify the registry but I promise it is safe. Your anti-virus software might ask you to confirm the registry change and it is safe to allow it.

This adds Command Prompt to the Windows Explorer right click menu. Just right click on a folder, click Command Prompt and you will be at the command prompt in the selected folder. No need to type CD and the full path anymore.


Method #2: Manually add the context menu

  • In explorer, open Tools, Folder Options.


  • Select the File Types tab.


  • For Windows XP: Go to NONE / Folder.


  • For Windows 2000: Press n to scroll to the N/A section.


  • For Windows NT/98/95: Press f to scroll to the Folders section.


  • Select the entry labeled Folder


  • For Windows 2000/XP: Press Advanced button.


  • For Windows NT/98/95: Press Edit button.


  • Select New


  • In the action block type "Command Prompt" without the quotes.


  • In the app block type "cmd.exe" without the quotes.


  • Save and exit Folder Options.



Now right click on Start, you should have a new drop down option. Open explorer and right click on a folder, select Command Prompt and a command window opens in that folder.

Method #3: Through batch file


  • Begin by creating a batch file. For example, you could create a batch file named StartPrompt.cmd. Add the following commands to your batch file:




    Code:

    @echo off
    cd /d %1
    Title %~f1



  • Save this batch file to your Windows NT/2000/XP root directory (which is usually C:\WINNT or C:\WINDOWS for XP).


  • Open Windows Explorer.


  • Choose View | Options to display the Options dialog box.


  • Select the File Types tab.


  • In the list of Registered File Types, select Folder then click Edit.


  • Click New to display the New Action dialog box.


  • In the Action text box, type Command Prompt.


  • In the Application Used To Perform Action text box, type:




    Code:

    cmd.exe /a /k c:\winnt\StartPrompt "%l"




  • Click OK to close the New Action dialog box, then click Close twice.

What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can't kill them, and you don't remember starting them… so what are they?

So What Is It?

According to Microsoft: "svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries". Could we have that in english please?

Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can't launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.

Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?

If you've ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.

Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.

So What Can I Do About It?

You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don't absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.


If you are curious what we're talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the "Show processes from all users" box:





Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)


If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.



Code:

tasklist /SVC