How to Change Windows 7 Logon and Logoff Screen

Logon and Logoff Screen appears at the starting and during shutdown process. In brief we will see how can we change them, means logon and logoff screen. Different types of softwares available for this purpose. But you can also do it manually. 

Two main things involved in this task. One is registry modification. Another is creating the log directory. Follow the instruction carefully.

First, Registry Modification

Though, the task involved in this process is very simple but it is always recommended that before doing any types of registry modification job first backup registry because fatal errors may come if it is done wrongly.

From Run command type regedit and press enter.

From this registry Editor window go to the location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background. Here on the right side you will see a Dword registry file named OEMBackground. Double click on it and change the value from 0 to 1.

First part is finished here.

Second part, Creating the Directory
Now go to window 7 installation directory, that where you installed your window. From there go to the location Windows/System32/oobe. In this directory create a new folder and name it as Info. Under this directory create another folder named as Background. On this folder put your favorite image file that you want to set as logon and logoff screen. But your image file must be in JPEG format and size must not exceed 256kb. Also take at least 1024X768 resulation as whatever the resulation is it will be stretched  to fit to the window.

Now name the image file as backgroundDefault and restart the window and see what happen.

Shutdown your PC Faster

On normal Shutdown process operating system do some scheduled task that are by default enabled. Such as cleaning pagefiles, closing background application and services etc. With a very easy trick we can minimize this process. For this you need to modify some registry files. But it is recommended to backup up registry before any modification of registry. Otherwise abnormal condition may come. So first backup your registry before doing this.

In Run (Start-->Run) type regedit and then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

HKEY_CURRENT_USER

On the right side you see a list of variables find out the following three variables AutoEndTask, HungAppTimeout and WaitToKillAppTimeout. First double click on the AutoEndTask, normally by default its value it set to 0(zero) change it to 1(one), it will enable the AutoEndTask service. Then Change HungAppTimeout to 1000, normally it is set to 5000 and finally change the WaitToKillAppTImeout to 2000, normally it is set to 20000. Now restart your computer to take the change. From next time see your system showdown time lessen or not.

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Manage Service Startup

When window starts some services automatically starts at the start up and runs on the background for running operating system smoothly and also for running some other application. Some of them are important to run but some others are not necessary. As they runs on the background, they slow your system performance. Knowing which service not necessary you can stops this service. This will improve your system performance.

This task involves registry modification so before going there please keep in mind that any incorrect registry modification may cause serious problem. So before doing anything with registry first Backup your registry and also create an restore point.

Its better to disable a service from Services computer-management console. You will find it by typing services.msc in Run Command(Start-->Run).

From here on the right side you will see the services. To change or see the status double click on the selected service and the properties dialogue box will appear. On general tab from drop down menu we can change the start type.

When you find a service that is not required at start up, then change the start up type automatic to manual, if totally not needed than disable it, from the drop down menu.

Service Star up Settings

Here are some sample service that generally not needed in start up. They are as follow:

Uninterruptible Power Supply, Automatic Updates, Portable Media Serial Number, Wireless Zero Configuration Service etc.

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Speed up your Shutdown

You can speed up your Shutdown process in a easy way, if you think you PC taking more time for shutting down.

One of the main reason for slow shutdown of PC is because of cleaning the pagefiles or swap files. The system by default always clears the page files before shutting down the PC. It is also because of security purpose. As page file stores the temporary data such as encrypted password which can be much more important for security purpose. But if you think your security will be ok without it then you can disable this service and make your shutdown faster. Just follow the step.

This task involves registry modification so before going there please keep in mind that any incorrect registry modification may cause serious problem. So before doing anything with registry first Backup your registry and also create an restore point.

Fist Go to Run command (Start--> Run) and Type regedit .

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Clear Page File At Shutdown

Click on the Memory management and on the right side you see some options. At the top you see ClearPageFileAtShutdown option. Double click on it and change the value to o (zero), which means disable the service.

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Some Commonn Tips for Speeding up PC

Besides doing registry modification and unloading RAM, There are still some things we can do which keep things simple and will help in speeding up the system. This just needs some minutes to it. Here are some tips described :

1. Avoid All Animation Effect

Always keep your animation effects low. To Turn Off this animation effects go to Control Panel --> Diplay--> Appearence --> Effect. Now uncheck all the boxes. This will kill all the unnecessary animation.

Turn Off Animation

2. Minimize Un-necessary programs
If you are working with more than one application but not simultaneously with two. Then minimize the windows on which you are not working with. That helps in unloading the RAM, which increase the PC performance.

3. Use Simple Wallpaper

High Definition Wallpaper slows the whole system. So Always try to keep simple plain wallpaper to speed up your PC.

4. Resolutions

Know which resolutions is best for your system hardware. Now all system are build in with auto resolutions adjust. Read the Graphics manual to know your system matched resolution.

5. Fonts

Fonts are loaded via booting process each time you start or restart the window. So if you have too much fonts installed, then it will slow down your starting process. You will find fonts in Control Panel-->Fonts. Delete the unwanted or un-necessary fonts. But don't delete the system fonts. This fonts have a red "A" letter as their icon.

6. Driver Update

Frequently update your driver, especially graphics driver. New drivers sometimes speed up your PC.

7. Disk Cleanup
Regularly Clean your disk space. It will increase your disk space as well as clean un-necessary old and temporary files. You will find disk clean up utility in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools.

8. Remove Programs

Remove or uninstall the un-necessary programs or software regularly. Unnecessary programs always a burden for your system. You can do it from Start-->Control panel--> Add or Remove programs.

9. Quick Folder Access

If you have folder with lots of files then it often take some time to open. For quick folder access do the following things.

Goto Control Panel--> Folder options and on the view tab unchcek the Automatically Search for network folders and printers and Check the Do not cache thumbnails and

Launch windows in separate process attributes.

10. DMA Access

Check if your system is using the DMA ( Direct memory Access) if not change it. To do this go to System properties, press Windows Key+ Pause/Break for shortcut. From hardware tab go to device manager. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers and double click on the Primary IDE Channel. On Advanced Settings tab see in drop down menu transfer mode choose DMA if available for each device.

DMA settings

11. Full Usage of RAM

Ensure your system to use the full memory of RAM before it is saves data as pagefile in hard drive. To do so open run command and type msconfig and in SYSTEM.ini tab click the plus next to [386enh], Click new and type ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 as shown in the bellow picture:

RAM optimization

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Speed up Your PC

There are lots of application software available for speed up your PC. But actually some of them works and most of them makes your PC slow. But with a little knowledge you can do it easily, There are some tips for speed up your PC, First understand them and then apply them in your PC. Here I put some of this tricks with probable explanation. Hope this will work.

RAM Related Performance Trick for SPEED UP YOUR PC

• A single line code used to free the RAM space and used to Speed up PC
• Use your flash device asVirtual RAM to Speed up PC

Registry Modification for SPEED UP YOUR PC

• Decrease your start menu Delay from Registry
• Speed up your Shutdown
• Manage your Service Start up to Speed up PC
• Registry Modification for faster shutdown

Some General Tips For Speeding up PC

• General Tips for Speeding UP your PC

What is pagefile or swap file ?

Basically there are two types of memory used by operating system. In general they are known as physical memory and the virtual memory. More specifically RAM(Random Access Memory) is the type of physical memory and virtual memory generally the storage medium such as harddisk, flash drives etc. 

But what is Pagefile?

When RAM or physical memory is full then it stores some portions of its data that recently not used, in some portion of harddisk, or other storage that specified as the extension of the RAM, is known as pagefile. Simply some portion of storage medium are specified as the extension of the RAM where RAM store it's recently unused data, is known as pagefile. 

Pagefile is a common name for Windows operating system, and in other operating system this are known as swap file. Pagefile or swap file are the same thing.

So a pagefile or swap file can be simply defined as space in hard disk or other storage medium that is used as virtual memory.So organize your pagefile allotment for better optimization of your PC performance. You can also add some flash device as virtual memory to increase your PC performance.

Decrease the Start Menu Delay

Its an another tricks on the way to speed up your PC. This post relates the modification of registry to decrease the start menu delay. However if your incorrectly modify your registry them serious problem may occur. So read before modifying the registry First Backup the registry before modifying, If any problem occurs then just load it. Just follow the step by step procedure as follow:

First open the run command from start menu and type regedit or regedt32 and press enter or click ok.
Registry editor window will be shown. From this window go to the following location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER-->Control Panel-->Desktop

Click on Desktop and on the right side you see some options and from these options find out the MenuShowDelay option. Generally its value set to 400. Double click on this option and change the value to 0 . close the window and restart the PC.

Registry Modification

Again strictly speaking before modifying any registry file first backup it for your own pc safety.

Backup your Registry

We often do lots of modification in our registry. But it is a important thing to know that if any one modifies his registry incorrectly then it may cause serious fault. So to avoid such kind of fault, before modifying any registry one should first backup it, then change the registry and if any problem occurs then just reload the previous one. Also it does not take much time to back up your registry.

First from start menu click one run command and type regedit and then press ok or hit enter.

Run Window

Then you will see you registry editor window is opened. Now click on the Key or Subkey that you want to make backup.

Then from file select export. Select a place in your hard drive and put a name and save it. This is the way for saving your registry.

Registry import and export

Now you got a problem and you want to reload with your backup registry. Just open registry editor window from run command then go to file and select import and select location of your backup file.

It's really easy. So why you take unnecessary risk. Back up registry before modification.

Increase your RAM performance with a single code

One of the biggest factor in PC speed performance is RAM short for Random Access Memory. It is also known as physical memory. Another type of memory used is virtual memory. But physical memory or RAM speed is much greater then the virtual memory, so as you increase your RAM your PC speed will also increase.

When you run a large application such as games or other large applications together you see the sluggish performance of your PC. It is because the leftovers take the physical memory. It means a portion of your physical memory trapped with unused application or programs. So in order to speed up your PC you need to free this memory. 

The following code is very good with this application. First open your notepad and write the following single line code: (you can open notepad from run command just type notepad and press enter)

RAM Related Performance Trick

If you have under 128mb of RAM then write:
Mystring = (16000000) 
for RAM 128mb or More write:
Mystring = (80000000) 

Save this notepad as "Memory.vbe" or "RAM.vbe ", on the desktop don't forget to include the quote("") signs.

Save this notepad at Desktop

Now double click on this newly created notepad and it will started working. But what this code is and what it does. This script simply finds out the unused physical memory forces this unused memory to be paged to the swapfile or pagefile, thus that memory will be free for using by the rest of the system. It actually work. But not recommended if you are not facing any problem regarding RAM.