Changing the visual style and color

Changing the visual style and color scheme can greatly increase the visual appeal of the classic logon screen. Instead of using the default blue Windows XP style on the screen, you can specify any style that is installed on your computer as well as the different color schemes that some styles have. This hack works great in combination with setting a background image. You can create a nice clean look that still looks good without using the Welcome screen.

To get started, you will be using the Registry Editor again. Also, before you can change the visual style, you should be aware that you will need to apply a patch to your system so that you can run Visual styles that other people have made for Windows XP. More on this in Chapter 4, where you will find out where to get Visual styles from and how to install them. Just be aware that you will not be able to change the visual style of the classic logon window until you have read Chapter 4. If you attempt to change it now, on an unpatched system, you will run into
problems. However, if you just want to change the color scheme of the default Windows XP style, then you will have no problems right now at all. Now that I have warned you about the possible problems you may encounter, let's get started:

1. Click the Start menu and select Run. Then type regedit in the box and click OK.

2. Once the Registry Editor is open, navigate through HKEY_USERS, .DEFAULT,
Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, and ThemeManager. You will now see all of the theme properties for the logon screen. The two entries that you will be working with are ColorName and DllName. ColorName specifies the color scheme of the current visual style that is specified in the DllName property.

3. First, let's change the color scheme of the default Windows XP style. You have three different choices for the ColorName value: NormalColor (default blue look), Metallic (silver), Homestead (olive green look). To change this property, just right-click it and select Modify. Then change the value to the corresponding value for the color scheme you want to use, such as Homestead. For example, if you want to use the olive green look on the classic logon screen, you will want to set the ColorName value to Homestead.

4. If you want to change the visual style of the classic logon screen, and have already read Chapter 4 and have patched your computer, then you will want to edit the DllName property. Right-click it and select Modify.Then, type in the path to the visual style you want to use.The path for the default Windows XP style is %SystemRoot%\Resources\themes\Luna\Luna.msstyles.The %SystemRoot%in the path is just an environment variable that the system interprets as C:\Windows or whatever folder where you installed XP. Once you have the new path entered that points to the visual style that you downloaded or made, click OK to save your changes.

5. When you have changed the visual style, you will also have to update the ColorName property to reflect the names of the different color schemes within the visual style. By default, you should set this property to NormalColor for most Visual styles. Once you have completed this, you are finished!

Once you reboot or log out, you will see the changes that you made. If you are having display problems after you install a new visual style, make sure that you have properly patched your computer. Remember, you have to patch your computer, not just install a program like Style XP. Refer to Chapter 4 for much more information on Visual styles.