Activating the hidden Boot Screen in Vista

Customizing the Boot Screen

Every time I turn on my computer, I am forced to stare at the boring Windows boot screen. I must admit that I found the moving bars amusing at first, but after a few months I became bored and wanted something different. Changing the boot screen is not something that Microsoft made easy; however, it is still possible with a few cool hacks.

Activating the hidden boot screen

Over the several years that Windows Vista was in the planning stages and in development, many promises were made about new features and enhancements. One of those promises had to do with high-resolution boot screens. This was going to be a great feature replacing the ancient 256-color boot screen that has been with Windows since Windows 95. Over time, as development of Vista was slipping behind schedule and developers were plagued with hardware compatibility problems with the high-resolution boot screen code, the feature was pulled from the final product.

Although this feature never made it into the released version of Windows Vista, there appears to be some parts of it left in the system. This section shows you a cool trick that will enable a hidden boot screen that looks like it was part of the high-resolution feature, as shown in Figure 1-1. It is nothing super fancy or elegant, but it sure is better than the boring boot screen that Vista shipped with, which looks like it is missing the Vista logo.

                              Figure 1-1

Before we proceed, note that some users have problems with using the hidden boot screen-possibly the reason why Microsoft hid it in the first place. If you are one of those users, simply boot into Safe mode and undo the steps for enabling the boot screen. Unfortunately, it is not currently known exactly what hardware has problems with the hidden boot screen. When you are ready, follow these steps to enable this boot screen on your PC:

1. 
   
   Click the Start button, type msconfig in the Search box, and then press Enter.
   
   


2. 
   
   When the System Configuration Utility loads, click the Boot tab.
   
   


3. 
   
   Locate the No GUI boot box and select it, as shown in Figure 1-2.
   
   

                                              Figure 1-2.

 

4. Click OK and reboot your computer.

You should see the hidden boot screen after you reboot your PC. As I mentioned earlier, if you have problems with the hidden boot screen, just boot into Safe mode (hold down F8 when you boot up) and remove the check from the No GUI Boot box.

Customizing the boot screen image

The alternative boot screen that you just enabled in the preceding section is a great improvement compared to the boring moving progress bar that shows by default. However, this is still not good enough. With the help of a few cool tricks, you can create your own high-resolution, 24-bit boot screen without hacking any system files.

How is that possible? Thanks to the new language-independent operating system components in Windows Vista, some resources are stored in regional language files rather than the actual system components. This allows Microsoft to easily create a localized version of Windows Vista in any language by just creating new MUI (multilingual user interface) files that contain localized versions of bitmaps and text. Because MUI files are not digitally signed by Microsoft, you can make your own that has your own boot screen image in it, which allows you to customize the alternative boot screen to use any image you desire.

This new feature in Windows Vista provides a great enhancement and alternative to the traditional method of hacking system files as you had to do in previous versions of Windows to do things such as changing the boot screen. In addition, there is a great tool developed by Dan Smith called the Vista Boot Logo Generator that will automatically compile the boot images you select into an MUI file. This makes the overall process simple compared to trying to change boot screens, as you did in the past.

To get started, you need two images, one 800 × 600 and one 1024 × 768 image, both saved as 24-bit bitmap images. When you have those images picked out, resized, and saved, you are ready to follow these steps:

1. Visit http://www.computa.co.uk/staff/dan/?p=18 and download the latest copy of the Vista Boot Logo Generator and install it.


2. Click the Start button, type vista boot logo, and press Enter.


3. After the boot logo is downloaded, click the Browse for Images button in the 800 × 600 section and select your 800 × 600 24-bit bitmap image. Do the same for the 1024 × 768 section.


4. After you have both images selected, click File and select Save Boot Screen file as to save your MUI file. Save it to your desktop.


5. Next you need to replace the winload.exe.mui file located in c:\windows\system32\en-us with the file you just created. However, it is not as easy as a simple copy and paste because the Windows system files are protected. First, I recommend making a backup of the existing winload.exe.mui file so that you can copy it back if you have problems later. To get around the file protections, you need to take ownership of all the files in the en-us folder. Right-click the en-us folder and select Properties.


6. Select the Security tab and then click the Advanced button at the bottom of the window.


7. Select the Owner tab, and then click the Edit button.


8. Select your account from the Account list and check Replace owner on subcontainers and objects. Click OK to apply your changes.


9. Click OK to exit all the open Properties windows. You need to go back into the folder properties to change the file permissions. This time you will have more rights because you are now the folder owner. Right-click en-us and select Properties again.


10. Click the Security tab, and this time click Edit.


11. Click the Add button. Type in your username and click OK. Your account name should now appear on the Permissions list.


12. Select your account, and then select the Allow column for Full control, as shown in Figure 1-3.

                                                      Figure 1-3.

Click OK to save your changes and OK once more to close the Properties screen. You will now be able to copy the winload.exe.mui file you made and saved to your desktop to c:\windows\system32\en-us. After you copy the file and reboot, you should see your new boot screen.

If you do not see your new boot screen and instead see the progress bar, make sure that you turned on the alternative boot screen as shown in the previous section. If you have any problems with your new boot screen MUI file, you can always boot using your Windows Vista install CD into a command prompt and can copy back the old winload.exe.mui file.

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C Program To Print A String Without Using Any Output Statements

This program can be used to print a string without using any output statements such as printf,puts etc.However this program only works in 16-bit mode since it directly writes to VDU Memory


#include
#include
char str[]=”Hello Srikanth”;
char far *v=(char far *)0xb8000000;
void main()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<14;i++)
{
*v=str[i];
v+=2;
}
getch();
}

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Modifying the Vista Operating System Boot

You can use several different tricks to shave a few more seconds off the boot time. For example, you can reduce Timeout values and slim down the system to get rid of all the extra features and services that you do not use or need. Check out the following ways to do so.

Windows Boot Manager

If you have more than one operating system installed on your computer, you’ll have to deal with the Windows Boot Manager installed by Windows Vista. By default, the Windows Boot Manager gives you 30 seconds to select an operating system before it reverts to the default operating system. The only way not to wait 30 seconds is to select the operating system you want to use right away. If you use one operating system the majority of your time, you will definitely save time if you set that operating system as the default and lower the Timeout value to 1 or 2 seconds. That way, you will not have to select an operating system every time you turn on your system or wait 30 seconds before your computer actually starts to load the operating system.

Tip

Before you make any changes to the Windows Boot Manager (WBM), it is a good idea to back it up using the Boot Configuration Data Editor (bcdedit.exe) so that you can easily revert back to an earlier version should you have any problems. At a command prompt running under an administrator account, type bcdedit /export “C:\Backup File”. This will save the WBM to a file that you can use to import using the /import flag.

Lowering OS Timeout values

As mentioned earlier, if you have multiple operating systems installed on your computer and the Windows Boot Manager is installed, the default selection timeout is often way too high. It is much better to set a lower timeout so that if you do not make a selection, it quickly reverts to the default OS, making your boot time much faster.

Changing the Timeout value is simple with the System Configuration utility. Follow the steps here to use the System Configuration utility to lower the OS Timeout value:

1. Click the Start button, type msconfig in the Search box, and press Enter.


2. When the System Configuration utility loads, click the Boot tab.


3. Locate the Timeout box and replace 30 with a much lower value. I recommend you use between 2 and 5. I use 2 because that gives me just the right amount of time to press a key on my keyboard when the Windows Boot Manager is displayed on the screen.


4. After the value has been updated, click OK to exit.

Now that the Timeout value has been updated, the Boot menu will no longer increase your system startup time. Even though this is a simple tip, it really helps a lot on systems that have multiple operating systems installed. Now let’s look at setting the default operating system on the Windows Boot Manager.

Setting the default OS

In the preceding section, I set a new Timeout value that will cut down on the amount of time that is wasted before the operating system starts to load. That works great when your primary operating system is the default; but if it is not, you must remember to press a key at the right moment on every single boot. There is a much better way to handle the situation. Just make your primary operating system the default operating system in the Windows Boot Manager. This will allow you to benefit from the lower Timeout value and speed up the overall boot time.

Setting the default operating system is a little more difficult because you need to use the command-line Boot Configuration Editor, bcdedit.exe. The Boot Configuration Editor is part of Windows Vista, but it requires an account with administrative rights to run. Even if you are logged in with an account that has administrator rights but have user account control enabled, by default the tool will not run as administrator. Follow these steps to use the Boot Configuration Editor to set the default operating system:

1. Click the Start button and navigate through All Programs and Accessories.


2. Locate the Command Prompt shortcut and right-click it to bring up the context menu.


3. Select Run as administrator from the context menu.


4. When the command prompt has loaded, you are ready to use the bcdedit.exe command. First, you need to get the ID of the operating system that you want to set as the default. To do this, type bcdedit /enum all in the open command prompt window. Scroll through the list of different entries and look for the one with the description matching “Microsoft Windows” for Windows Vista.


5. After you have found the correct entry, note its identifier. That is used in the next step.


6. While still at the command prompt, run bcdedit /default (entry identifier). For example, I ran bcdedit /default {}.

The default operating system on the Window Boot Manager is now set. The next time you reboot, your changes will be in use.

Tip

The Boot Configuration Editor is a powerful utility that you can also use to change many other settings of the Windows Boot Manager. Experiment with bcdedit.exe by running bcdedit /? from command prompt. This will show you all the other available options and flags that you can use with the Boot Configuration Editor.

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Hacker opens gaping holes in CSAT score security

As the investigation into the leak of college entrance exam results rolls on, prosecutors said yesterday that the computer server at the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, which administers the exam, had been hacked over 200 times. Not only the test results but also the institute’s internal information was stolen.



According to prosecution and police sources, a manager at a public relations firm called Inuni Co. whose surname is Kim accessed the institute’s server over 200 times between August 2007 and December 2008.



A detention warrant was filed against Kim on charges of breaking information and network laws but it was rejected by the court.



Kim easily broke into the server. In August 2007, he accessed an employee’s e-mail account at the institute. Kim obtained the e-mail ID from a press release, and the password was the same as the ID.



Kim tried to log in to e-mail accounts of other institute employees over 50 times. One of his successes was with the account of someone in the institute’s administrative office. The employee used a password identical to the romanized spelling of his name.



One of the employee’s e-mails contained an attached file containing the passwords of five other employees at the institute. The employee temporarily managed the other employees’ e-mail access information because he dealt with changes in the institute’s server. Their passwords were identical to the last seven digits of their residential identification numbers.



In this way, Kim downloaded 16 types of internal information from the institute. Among the materials downloaded were plans to grade answer sheets from the 2009 College Scholastic Ability Test, scoring schedules and the number of students who missed the test.



“Kim could look at the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation’s internal information by accessing the e-mail of seven employees,” a prosecutor said.



Kim passed the information on to VisangEdu, a private education company. VisangEdu made the CSAT score analysis public on Dec. 9, a day before the CSAT results were announced.



Kim accessed the institute’s server four times on Dec. 10 after the institute requested a probe into this case.



As the investigation closed in on him, Kim destroyed a memo containing the IDs and passwords of the seven employees. Prosecutors plan to decide what kinds of charges they will file against Kim and a VisangEdu director whose surname is Jin this week.



source:click here

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3 Ways a Twitter Hack

Just days after popular social networking tool Twitter was hit was a phishing scam, the company is now trying to clean up a mess surrounding a separate hacking attack.

Over the weekend, some Twitter users received scam tweets, or direct messages, to visit certain sites or blogs. The URL in the message redirected users to a bogus login page in an attempt to steal login credentials for a phishing scheme. Monday, thing got worse as Twitter officials revealed several high profile accounts, such as those of Britney Spears and Barack Obama were hacked.



"It appears someone gained access to the tools Twitter uses to control its millions of accounts," explained Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos PLC. "Internal tools used by the tech support team were compromised. It's not clear if it was an inside job, or outside hacker. Twitter does say they think it was an individual."

The hack, according to Cluley, is much more serious than the earlier phishing attack because it was compromise of the system that potentially exposed all Twitter users to the following dangers.



Fraudalent password use If you gain access to someone's Twitter account, you might be able to gain access to their password, said Cluley.

"We know that 41 percent of people admit to using the same password on every web site and account that they access," he said.

Hackers, while gaining access to something seemingly simply like a username and password to one account may very well be able to use the information to gain access to more important information, such as your bank account.

Malware Infection Twitter officials said 33 accounts had been attacked in the latest hack, including high-profile users such as Britney Spears and Barack Obama. The hackers used their temporary access to send offensive messages. CNN journalist Rick Sanchez found his account had been hacked with a message that read "i am high on crack right now might not be coming to work today."

The damage could have been much worse, said Cluley, if the hacker had decided to take a different approach.

"Imagine if instead, in the case of Britney Spears account for example, that the hacker had posted a link that said: 'Here's my new video. Click on this link.' Imagine how many people would have clicked on that and it could have pointed to malware? And Barack Obama is one of the most followed people on Twitter. If he said: 'I've just made a new speech. Check it out.' a lot of people would click on that link and get infected."



source:network world

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How To Identify Fonts Being Used In Images

Have you ever encountered problems in identifying what fonts is being used in an image? Of course fonts being used in popular movie banners can be found easily because you have the keyword but what if you found a free template and the font is not included? You either recreate the buttons with your own fonts replacing the original, or try posting in forums and hope that someone would have seen that font before and let you know what is the font name. There are so many fonts, maybe hundred of thousands fonts available on the internet and to identify an unknown font is definitely NOT an easy task!

If you need to identify a font, don’t despair. I have found 2 methods that is able to help you identify an unknown font. If it is not able to help you identify the font, it will at least help you narrow down to the closest ones.



Identifont, a free service offered to help you identify fonts by answering a series of simple questions about its appearance.

 

[ Identify Unknown Fonts with Identifont ]

 

Images can be color or black & white, and they don’t have to be very high quality (although that helps). Even a digital photograph of some lettering you like can be accepted. Accuracy of results is unprecedented by previous automatic systems. [ Identify Unknown Fonts with WhatTheFont ]

Finally, if WhatTheFont system is unable to give you a good match of the font you’re looking for, you can then submit your image to WhatTheFont Forum to have your image viewed by font geeks the world over.

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Creates Auto-Starting Installer CDs for Any Applications

Windows only: Free app Install-It puts a small auto-starting application on any removable drive that makes installing applications a double-click affair.

After downloading the Install-It package, you'll want to extract its files to somewhere you can reach, like your desktop, and open up the Install.ini file in your favorite text editor. This file is simply a list of program descriptions and the locations of their installer files. If you're creating a disc full of useful installers, just replace the default examples with your chosen verbiage for each app and the location/names of the setup files. You separate those two items with a comma, using slashes where necessary, and end each line with a semi-colon.

Here's an example Install.ini I made for a supposed Windows XP re-installation:



Copy all your installer files and Install-It's files into a CD-burning app, such as CDBurnerXP, and fire away.

Now you've got a CD that, on most computers, will pop up with a list of programs that can be installed without anyone having to guess which icon or cryptic filename means. If a computer isn't set to auto-start when it detects an autorun.inf file, though, you'll have to point the computer to install.exe—not a problem, though, if you've put each application in its own directory.

Install-It is a free download for Windows systems only.

Install-It [via The Red Ferret Journal

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