My home is not a place, it is people.
Cordelia's Corner for the Complete Newbie: Part 7
Published on January 11, 2005 By Cordelia In OS Customization

Merriam-Webster online defines Obsession and Compulsion thusly:

 

Main Entry: ob·ses·sion
Pronunciation:
äb-'se-sh&n, &b-
1 : a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling; broadly : compelling motivation obsession with profits>
2 : something that causes an obsession
 

Main Entry: com·pul·sion
Pronunciation:
k&m-'p&l-sh&n
1 a : an act of compelling : the state of being compelled b : a force that compels
2 : an irresistible impulse to perform an irrational act

 

Put the two words together and you get LogonStudio. OK, actually you get Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, but it's a very thin line between the two, right?

 

LogonStudio is a free program that allows you to change your logon screen. You can get it here. (Note: LogonStudio is no longer a supported program. *weeps quietly*).

 

A logon screen is the screen where you type in your password in order to gain access to your computer, always assuming you can remember your password. Oh, wait, you use the same password for everything you have to log in to and everything you've ever signed up for on the Internet, right? Here's a brief note about personal computing security: stop that. Also change your passwords on occasion.

 

Anyway, the unskinned screen looks something like this:

 

 

Are you obsessed? Are you compulsed? Want to change your logon screen to match your current skin, or just change it to something different because you are sick of looking at the same thing for ten whole seconds out of your day? Well here's how:

 

1.) Download and open LogonStudio. It looks like this:

 

 

2.) Download a logon from WinCustomize's Logon Gallery. There are also some nice standard logons that come with the program. If you download a logon you will be required again to save it someplace you will remember, and then extract the zipped files as we discussed in yesterday's article on wallpapers. (See the daily hint at the bottom for a faster way to do this).

 

 

3.) Click Load and find the skin you just downloaded and then click Apply. I am trying out both Azure by adni18 and SkinPlant 102 by Mike Bryant. They are both so pretty I can't decide, I can't decide!!!

 

 

4) Once you click apply it will take you right back to your logon screen to show you what it looks like now. Sometimes I just log off and log back on just so I can stare at the pretty logon screen. See definitions at top of page.

 

Here are the two new screens:

 

 

Daily hint for the newb: Have LogonStudio open. Download your files and when the download dialog box tells you it's been downloaded you can click on open. This action will load the new logon into the program library. No more extracting files! Save precious mouse clicks!

 

 

Tomorrow's Article: CursorXP

Translate this article into Gaelic and win a Garden Cthulu !!!

(Offer not valid for carnivores or herbivores or carnivorous herbivores or vegetarian carnivores)

 

Check out the other Newbie Tutorials here:  #1: Intro.#2: WindowBlinds, Part 1, #3: WindowBlinds, Part 2, #4: Screenshots, #5: IconPackager, #6: Wallpaper Basics
 


Comments (Page 5)
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on Apr 15, 2007
hi guys, i have a problem here. i am fond of vista, so i downloaded a theme (vistabuisiness.logonxp) from the web:
https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=8210&libid=26
and when i loaded it into logonstudio, nothing happened. no preview, no nothing, not even in the list. i figured out a way before, but then forgot. can someone help me please!! ><
please reply asap as i am desperate
on Apr 15, 2007
The Vista Business file is a .zip. You need to unzip it and doubleclick the.logonxp file that is inside.

If for some reason that doesn't work, rename the Vista Business.logonxp to Vista Business.zip, unzip it, and put the Vista Business folder in C:\Program Files\Wincustomize\Logon Studio.

It should be in the list then.
on Apr 17, 2007
ok here is my problem
i tried to make my own screen after trial and error i figured out hot to use the program to make one. then when i tried to apply it and logoff so that i could see what it looked like i got a parse error ";" at line 173 and now i cant logon to my computer at all how can i fix it
on Apr 17, 2007
This may help...... WWW Link
on Apr 17, 2007
Try pressing ctrl alt del twice when the logon is supposed to come up, you should be able to logon that way. After you logon, disable logonstudio by selecting the default logon.
on Apr 28, 2007
When my Logons appear, there is no text...the "spash screen" part opens, but there is no "welcome"or "user name" text.  ..There used to be  ..all else is fine. ..been to and thru the edit panels, and tried all options in "user" part of control panel. working from winXP and WinCustomize. Help! thanx.
on Apr 30, 2007
thanks but...IT DID NOT HELP!
on May 09, 2007
okay guys im needing some help here, i downloaded logon studio and when i download a skin for it it automatically opens in the studio but it doesn't show it? so i tried to load it but where do i find it?
pls help i really wanna use this program
on May 09, 2007
joy,
It should work fine that way but sometimes Logon Studio will do weird things on some computers.

You are using XP right?

One way that always works as a last resort is to download the logon to your desktop, don't have it automatically load.

Then rename the file from "Whatever.logonxp" to "Whatever.zip" and unzip it. The you can put the Whatever folder in C:\Program Files\Wincustomize\Logon Studio.

Then when you open Logon Studio it should be in the list of logons so you can apply it.

Make sure there are just .bmps and a uifile and theme.ini in that folder and not another folder inside of it.
on May 14, 2007
thnx ill try
on Feb 01, 2008
for what it's worth....when i've had the same issue, I found that I usually had to resize the bitmap/image down to 500 x 486 or 600 by 486 dpi.
Usually when I went back to finish creating the logon, I found that either setting image at "fixed" size usually corrected the problem. And oddly enough, when i tiled certain images, they were centered on the screen correctly?!? Hope some of this helps.
on Jan 20, 2009
Hi guys, I need some help. I want make my own custom logon using LogonStudio. And I want to hide/disable top panel & buttom panel so I just use center panel (for wallpaper). I could hide/disable top panel by changes "visible" value from true into false. But I couldn't hide/disable buttom panel. Is there a way to hide/disable it? Many thanks
on Nov 03, 2009
i am using xp sp3 and can not get logon studio to work at all. I have followed all the above steps and after hitting the apply button it takes me to the logon screen but it is still the default logon. is there anything i should be doing or does this program not work on sp3
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