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How To Change The Windows Xp Shell.
Basically what your doing here is replacing Explorer with your frontend. In my case Mala.
1) open regedit (start menu > run, and type in regedit).
2) go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
3) add a new string value (Edit > New > String Value) called shell. and set the value to the path of the new shell e.g C:\Frontend\MaLa.exe.
4) log out and log back in or reboot.
To return to windows explorer setup from your frontend if it supports it (Mala does) have it load Explorer.exe when you exit your frontend. Now your back in a normal windows environment and can navigate as normal.
Getting rid of the "Loading settings" Popup screens
The following will hide the dialog box that appears at the beggining of Windows startup informing you that the system is "Loading Settings".
To do this,follow these steps:
1.Go to, Start Menu -> Run and enter regedit
2.Navigate to entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System3.If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one)
If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).
Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color
To hide the Welcome Screen (where you'd normally log in) you'll need to change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.
To change the login background color from blue to black (to better hide it), use regedit again and navigate to
HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.
If this causes the "Classic" login screen to appear that prompts for a password, the login can be automated as follows:
1.Click start >run >type
control userpasswords2
2.Highlight the user you want to log into automatically, then deselect the Users must enter a username and password... checkbox.
3.Click Apply and you'll be asked to verify the username and password to log in automatically
4.Click OK again and the next time you restart your computer, you'll automatically be logged in without having the classic prompt or Welcome Screen.
Hide Desktop Icons
Right click on your desktop in a empty area.
Select "view"
Uncheck "Show Desktop Icons"
Hide XP Boot Screen
Click on start then run.
Type in msconfig and click OK
Sleect the boot tab and check the No GUI boot.
Click on Apply and restart.
Change Cursor
Double click on the My Computer icon, then double click on the C: Drive icon.
Double click on the Windows folder then Cursors folder.
Inside the Cursors folder create a new folder and name it what ever you like. We will use My Cursors for this tutorial.
Double click on your new folder to open it, copy the new cursors you want to add into your new folder.
To add them to Windows so you can use them go to Start then Control Panel.
For Windows 98 and ME double click on the Mouse icon. For Windows XP double click on the Printers and Other Hardware icon then the Mouse icon. For Vista Click On Hardware, then Mouse.
Click on the Pointers tab.
There you will see a list of cursor events under the Customize box.
Click on an event to highlight it, use the Browse box previously, then navigate to the new folder you created. The browse box will place you into the Windows\Cursors folder.
Open the new folder you created and pick which ever cursor you want to use for that event you highlighted. You can go through and add a new cursor to each event if you wish.
Next, go up to Scheme and click Save As... to save your new scheme.
NOTE: This method was tested to work with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Changing the Cursor During the Logon Screen
For this you need to change the assigned cursor values for the ".DEFAULT" user account.
Open up regedit (start menu > run, and type in regedit).
The registry key is:
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Cursors
If the "Cursors" key does not exist then create it yourself. Right click > New > Key call it Cursors. At the "(Default)" value type a title for the cursor scheme (e.g. "My Special Cursors").
We are going to now add 3 new strings under the Default value.
For example (in my experience the following three do the job for cursor concealment)
"AppStarting"
"Arrow"
"Wait"
To add a new string value (Right Click > New > String Value) call it AppStarting and so on until you have all three. and set the value to the path of the new cursors e.g C:\temp\pacman.cur do this for all three.
Reboot your machine for changes to take effect.
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