Hacking Windows XP (P2)

F IGURE 1-2: LogonUI NTFS Detected screen, which asks you to add another line to the boot.ini file so that your system will be set up for LogonUI to change your boot screens... Select th

If you get an error the first time that you run LogonUI saying that the comctl32.ocx component cannot be found, download this file from the following URL, or any other site, and put it in the same folder as your application: www.belchfire.net/~userxp/comctl32.zip

3 Next, you may be prompted with a third configuration screen if you are running

Windows XP Service Pack 1 The screen will say that it has detected Service Pack 1 installed and wants to know if you want LogonUI to work with older (nonService Pack 1) boot skins Click Yes on this screen When the application has started up, you are going to see the final configuration screen asking you where the folders on your com-puter are for your boot screens This step is important, as you will need to specify the folder on your computer to where you download all of the boot screens Click the three dotted button on the right of the text boxes ( .) to specify the path easily Click OK, when you are done You are now finished with the LogonUI app

4 If you still see the configuration screen, click OK once more Now you should see a

list of your boot screens in the upper-left window Click one of the screens to see a preview, as shown in Figure 1-3 If you receive a message asking if you want it to locate the progress bar automatically, click OK, wait a few seconds, and you will then see a preview

F IGURE 1-2: LogonUI NTFS Detected screen, which asks you to add another line to the boot.ini file so that your system will be set up for LogonUI to change your boot screens.

5 Select the boot screen from the list that you want to convert so that it shows up in the

preview area Then, right-click the Preview of the boot screen, and select See Bitmaps in File, as shown in Figure 1-4

6 The background of your screen will go gray and you will see some numbers in it Each

of the numbers in the box represents an image file stored in this system file Click number 1, and you will see a preview of the image Then click the Save button and the Save Picture dialog box will show up, as shown in Figure 1-5

7 At this point, you will want to change the file format to a bitmap This can be done by

clicking the Format drop-down box and selecting bmpfrom the list because Stardock’s BootSkin app can only read bmp files

8 Next, you should change the location and name of the file to a new folder named after

the name of the boot skin so that identifying and finding the image file will be easier later It is best to place this folder inside of a master boot skins folder such as my boot screens folder I mentioned earlier to keep things organized and simplify the conversion process You can do so by clicking the button with three dots on the bottom of the dialog box Once you get the file name and folder set, click the Save button

F IGURE 1-3: LogonUI displaying available boot screens.

F IGURE 1-4: LogonUI See Bitmaps in File pop-up menu.

F 1-5: Save Picture dialog box.

9 Now, you are almost finished with the extraction portion of converting the boot screen.

If the boot screen that you are converting also has a progress bar (the active bar moving left to right on the screen), then you have to do one more step (If the boot screen does not have a progress bar, skip to the next step.) After you have clicked the Save button in the last step, return to the screen that shows all of the different numbers for the different bitmaps stored inside the file The progress bar is stored in bitmap number 4 Select the number 4 item from the list and click the Save button Then repeat step 8 to save the bitmap file

10 You are now finished with the LogonUI app portion of the conversion and are getting

close to completion The next step is to create a BootSkin configuration file The format

of the configuration file is simple, as shown in Figure 1-6

A copy of a configuration file called BootSkin.ini is in the Chapter 1 folder on the compan-ion CD-ROM at the back of the book I recommend that you use this file as a guide when mak-ing your own configuration file

Open up a copy of Notepad from the Accessories menu in the Start panel to create your own configuration file The first line of the file should contain [BootSkin]to indicate

that this is a configuration file to the BootSkin application Type in Type0 in the

F 1-6: A BootSkin boot screen configuration file.

second line to tell BootSkin what type of screen this is Next, you will need to include some

identification information in the file Type Name“Name of your screen” on the next

line Do the same for author and description, as shown in Figure 1-6 Now you will have

to specify which bitmaps you want to use for the progress bar Type in ProgressBar ImageName.bmp Next, you will have to specify where the progress bar will be

dis-played because BootSkin makes it possible to display the progress bar anywhere on the screen The location of the progress bar will be determined by the coordinates that you

enter in the configuration file Type in ProgressX265 and ProgressY383 on the next

two lines Feel free to replace 265 and 383 with any numbers you like Keep in mind that the resolution of the boot screen is 640  480, which limits the maximum x value to 640

and the y value to 480 The width/length of the progress bar must also be specified Type

in ProgressBarWidth118 to do this If the boot screen that you are converting does

not have a progress bar, then just omit the four lines involving the progress bar The last part of the configuration file is where you specify what you want the background image to

be Type in ScreenBackgroundImage.bmp to set this When you are finished typing in

all of the configuration data, save the configuration file in the folder that you named and extracted all of the bitmaps to in step 8

11 The last step of the process is to copy your newly created files to the BootSkin skin

directory If you installed BootSkin to the default location, it is located at c:\Program Files\Stardock\WinCustomize\BootSkin\skins\ Create a new folder in this directory that is the same as the name that you entered in the configuration file in the last step Then, copy the two image files (one if you have no progress bar) and the bootskin.ini file

to this folder The next time you start up BootSkin, you should see your new boot screen Although performing these steps might seem (and be) a little time-consuming at first, once you have converted a boot screen, any conversions thereafter should take you a minute or less

As mentioned previously, the process I just described to change your boot screen is the safest possible way to do so You will not have to get caught up in the mess of looking for compatible boot screens for your version of Windows and you also will not be limited to any number of available boot screens if you use my conversion tips

Making your own boot screens for BootSkin

Now that you know how to convert boot screens, making your own boot screen will be a snap The most difficult part of the process would be creating your image file To get started, you first need to know the basics

If you have not already noticed, boot screens are a 640  480 resolution image These images are limited to only 16 colors (4 bits) This limitation makes the ability to create a cool-looking screen a little difficult The help of a nice graphics converter utility makes the image look much better when you have to convert it to only 16 colors A good utility that I use is the free version

of Stardock’s Skin Studio This is a program that was designed to make Visual styles for their Windows Blinds application, but it also has a good graphics converter that was made especially for BootSkin within it Download a copy of this utility from www.stardock.com/

products/skinstudio/downloads.asp Once you have it downloaded and installed, you can start the application from the Object Desktop folder in the Start menu Follow these steps to convert your images:

1 The first time that you run Stardock’s SkinStudio, you will be greeted with a registration

screen If you do not want to register, just click the Register Later option and the pro-gram will load Now that you have Stardock’s SkinStudio started, you will want to click the Close button on the Welcome screen that asks you what you want to do, because what you want to do is not listed there

2 Next, click the Tools menu bar item and expand BootSkin and then select Prepare Image.

3 This will bring up the Boot Screen Image Prepare window Click the Browse button and

select the image that you want to convert on your computer

4 Then, you will see a preview of your image converted by a method known as dithering.

This process allows the image to look better by using the same technique that newspa-pers use to print color and photographs on paper Most newspanewspa-pers are printed with only three colors Dithering makes it possible for the massive newspaper presses to print an image that appears to include thousands of colors from only three basic colors How is this possible? It is all a trick with your eyes All images in a newspaper are made up of thousands of tiny dots Each of the dots is one of the three printing colors The place-ment of the dots and combination of one or more colors is what gives the illusion of color For example, if you want to print something in a color such as orange, then print

a grid of red and yellow dots next to each other There are various methods to dither the image built-in so that you can play around and see which one makes your image look best using the drop-down box next to the dither image check box, as shown in Figure 1-7

5 Once you have the image looking the best that you can get it, just click the Save button

and you are set!

If you do not want to use the boot screen preparer and do not know how to use Adobe Photoshop or any other robust image editor, I suggest you visit the Belchfire.net Web site that automatically converts and resizes background photos for you:http://server1.belch fire.net/Inno_Resize/ Just click the Browse button and select your image file, then click the Convert button, and sit back for a few minutes and your converted image should come up eventually I have found that the site does not work well with files other than bitmaps, so it might be a good idea to convert your image to a bitmap first and then let the converter resize the image and decrease the colors automatically

If you would like to make your computer’s boot screen more attractive and alive, an animated progress bar is for you To add a moving progress bar to your boot screen, just make a bitmap image that is saved in 16 colors that has a resolution of 22 x 9 pixels Don’t worry about trying

to animate it; that small image will be moved around automatically by the program displaying the screen

Once you have your image files in 16 colors and at the right sizes, just create a new folder in the BootSkin skin folder (C:\Program Files\Stardock\WinCustomize\BootSkin\

skins) and copy in your image files Then create a quick bootskin.inifile for your boot screen from the sample file in the Chapter 1 folder on the companion CD and you are finished

Load up BootSkin to preview your new skin and, if it looks good, you are ready to roll If you reboot to see your new boot screen in action and you notice that the boot screen does not show

up correctly or at all, the problem may be caused by the bitmap file being in a format other than 16-colors/4-bit options available Make sure that your file is converted correctly and is saved in only 16 colors With the correct configuations in place, everything should work properly

Customizing the Logon Screen

Windows XP has introduced a great new way to log on to your computer, known as the Welcome screen The new Welcome screen provides a refined method to log on compared to the old boring Windows 2000 logon screen Not only does the new screen look good, but users can now see all of the users set up on the machine and can easily log on by clicking the user’s name

F IGURE 1-7: Stardock’s Skin Studio Boot image preparer, showing the dithering methods available to make your image look its best when converted to 16 colors.

This Welcome screen has provided a nice alternative to the old logon method, but some people just don’t like change and want the old logon method back If you are one of the users that wants to say goodbye to the Welcome screen, then this section will not only help you get it back, but it also will show you some neat tricks to make it a little more visually appealing If you thought the new logon screen is cool, you will love this next section about making the Welcome screen even cooler

Working with the Welcome screen

The Welcome screen is one of the most versatile parts of the whole operating system It is pos-sible to customize the heck out of this screen You can completely change the way it looks, the locations of all of the buttons and images, and much more You can even restrict what is dis-played on it The Welcome screen is great for users that want to customize their boxes

Changing a users icon on the Welcome screen

Each user that is set up on your computer can associate an image that appears next to his or her name on the Welcome screen, as shown in Figure 1-8 By default, Windows will randomly

F IGURE 1-8: The new Windows Welcome screen with an image next to the user’s name.

select an image for you, but this selection can easily be changed If you do not like the images that Windows has to offer, you can select any other image

The process of changing a user’s image is very simple Just perform the following steps and you will have it changed in no time:

1 Open up the user manager by clicking the Start menu and selecting Run Then type in

nusrmgr.cpland click OK This is a shortcut to User Accounts that will save you time going to Control Panel and then clicking the User Accounts icon

2 This will start up the New User Accounts Manager To change a user’s picture, just click

the user name

3 Then, click Change My Picture text and you will see a screen with all of the different

images that are built into Windows XP

4 If you see one you like, just select it by clicking it and then click the Change Picture

but-ton If you do not like any of them, click the Browse for More Pictures option, as shown

in Figure 1-9

F IGURE 1-9: User Accounts’ change image screen showing the option to select additional images for a user’s picture.

5 This will pop up a Browse dialog box Browse though your files and select the image that

you want to use, and click Open Any image that you select will automatically be resized

to fit If you want to make a image that will take up all of the space, the correct aspect ratio is 1 to 1, as the size of the square that is displayed is 48  48 pixels

Now you have changed a user’s Welcome screen image and also the image that is displayed in that user’s Start panel

Removing a user from the Welcome screen

One of the unfortunate side effects of the Welcome screen is the listing of all of the user accounts on the computer What if there is an account that you do not want the whole world to see? Using the same feature that Microsoft uses to hide system accounts from the Welcome screen, you can hide user accounts as well

Hiding user accounts can be done by a simple hack in the registry Hidden away in the local system settings is a list of accounts that Microsoft does not want to appear on the Welcome screen These accounts are primarily system accounts under which different processes that run

in the background use to execute

To hide a user from the Welcome screen, all you have to do is create an entry on the list for the user you want to hide Follow these steps to find out how to add a user to the list:

1 Click the Start button and select Run, then type regedit in the box and click OK.

2 This will start up the system Registry Editor You are going to want to expand the

fol-lowing keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE, Microsoft, Windows NT, CurrentVersion, Winlogon, SpecialAccounts, and UserList

3 You should now see the list of the account names, and parts of account names, that the

sys-tem will look for and will hide To add a name to the list, just right-click and select New

1 DWORD value, as shown in Figure 1-10 A DWORD is a specific data type of an entry

in the system registry In short, the DWORD data type allows an integer value to be stored

4 When the new key is created, enter in the name of the user’s account as the name of the

key Once you have done this, you can close regedit

After log off and back on or reboot, the user will not be displayed on the Welcome screen

If you ever want to log into the account that you hid from the Welcome screen, just press CtrlAltDelete on your keyboard once, twice, and you will be able to type in the name of the user under which you want to log in This way, you can hide an account from your family or friends but can still log into it

If you ever change your mind and want the account to be displayed on the Welcome screen again, just delete the entry that you made in the list in the System Registry and everything will

be back the way it was

Changing the Welcome screen

The new blue Welcome screen looks great, but after a while, a change would be nice Also, modifying the Welcome screen is another way you can customize your computer and make it