First some background:

Windows XP ships with a nice new logon screen. This screen is called logonui.exe. Since the release of Windows XP, technically knowledgeable users have learned that you can take a resource hacker to the .exe and change the bitmaps and settings of the .exe. Users then soon began releasing alternative logonui.exe's.

The problem was that only technical people were really able to create them. And it required people to download a .EXE and replace their own (a key system file). What has ended up happening is that artists who would be the target audience, have generally not embraced this type of customization because of the difficulty. Worse, many of the logonui.exe's floating around are actually someone else's graphics ripped and used without permission.

Stardock's solution is LogonXP. A new program that lets users distribute .logon files (which are just .ZIP files renamed). These files merely contain the bitmaps and a text file describing what they're for. LogonXP does more than just apply them, it provides a nice GUI for creating your own where you simply walk through and change the bitmaps. It also provides layout templates to make it easier to put your Users at the top, bottom, left, right, etc.

It also has numerous safety and recovery features should things go awry during the process of using it.

By making it more accessible, more artists will be able to create their own logons and share them with others.

LogonXP is freeware. There is no enhanced or plus version of it.

This is a developer's release meaning we haven't ironed out the bugs or put together samples to include with it (if you would like yours included, comment below with a link to it and we'll check it out). It can import most of the logonui.exe's floating around so that you don't have to use a resource hacker anymore to deal with the bitmaps inside.

The .logon format is open and anyone is free to use it as they wish.

To download this developer's release go to:

https://www.stardock.com/files/logonxp089.exe