Creating a welcome (or your not welcome) screen for your computer.

You can create a message that will appear when you log on to your computer. One of the reasons you should do this is to display a message to everyone who will be atempting to log onto your computer (or computers). My main reason is to warn everyone to keep their paws off my computer. OK, if your not familiar with the registry editor, you probably should not do this. NOTE: I will not be responsible for you screwing up your computer due to inexperience or lack of training. But, if you have the balls to do it, here is how to start up your computer with a message.

If your running WindowsXP, your absolute first step is to do a system restore "backup". If you do not know how to do this first step without help, I recommend you do not persue this change any further.

If your still willing and able to do this change, then continue with the following steps.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. In the Registry Editor, drill down to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. Right-click LegalNoticeCaption, click Modify, type My Windows XP Machine, and then click OK.
4. Right-click LegalNoticeText, click Modify, and then type your message.
5. Close the editor and your new message will appear at every log on.

This tip applies to computers that are part of a domain. For stand-alone or peer-to-peer networks, the custom screen appears just before the Welcome screen.

You may need to have an administrator account on your computer to make changes to the registry. Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. At the very least, you should back up any valued data on the computer before making changes to the registry.

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