Friday, February 18, 2011

My Windows Misadventures

Last night I hacked my Windows MBR to get rid of the Windows branding/ugly animation, and then authui.dll to change the background of the login/alt+ctrl+delete screens. This ended in failure, as MBR was corrupted afterwards. I had to reformat my computer and lost everything (no flash drive). So today, as (a very stupid, yet successful) experiment, I decided to hack them one at a time. First, authui.dll. I changed the background successfully using a bit of software, and then disassembled the dll in order to remove the ease of access, windows branding, and shutdown options. I rebooted to test, and behold! Success! I booted Windows without a hitch. The problem was editing MBR. Once again, as I rebooted I was faced with the heart breaking error, alerting me to my corrupted Boot Manager. Luckily, as I booted into my trusty Linux Mint LiveCD, I decided to venture into the system reserves partition, where I found A BACKUP OF THE BOOT MANAGER. The file was called "bootmgr - BACKUP" and it was sitting directly beside the corrupted bootmgr file. A quick rename, and a few minutes for a startup repair, and it was all as good as new. Tonight has been a great night.

Now that I've reformatted once, and had a scare that nearly caused me to irrationally format again, I'm a tad wiser, and ready to venture into new, more dangerous system files to hack just for the hell of it. Wish me luck!

Programs used:

ResHacker
Windows 7 Logon Changer (there are a multitude of these. No really, google it, you'll find three separate programs on the first page alone)

3 comments:

  1. Its a great way to add your personal touch to your PERSONAL computer...glad it worked out for ya.

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  2. Wish I knew that much about my windows system, would probably help me solve some really annoying issues I have with my computer!

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