Customize The Logon Screen

Changing the Windows logon screen used to involve some complicated and potentially dangerous hacks, but not any more, Windows 7 makes it a lot easier. To change the background image of the logon screen, simply follow these steps:

 1. Open the Registry Editor and look for this string:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
    Authentication\LogonUI\Background
 2. In the right pane, right-click on an empty spcae and select
    'New->DWORD Value'
 3. Name it 'OEMBackground' and set the value to '1'
 4. Copy the image you want to use to the following directory:
    C:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds
 5. If the 'info' and 'backgrounds' folders do not exist, you
    will need to create them
 6. Rename the image to 'backgroundDefault.jpg'
 7. Reboot your computer to see the changes

NOTE: The image you use must be less than 256KB in size and match the aspect ratio of your screen. if the image is not the same size as your screen, it will be stretched to fit.