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LOVSC & LOVSC Script Generator Explanations

LOVSC stands for Logons & Visual Styles Changer, it?s a tool that lets you handle many logons & themes in an easy & flexible way and therefore help you integrate as many logons & themes as you can in your windows unattended CD.

Before entering in details, let me clarify some points. This tool is compatible with Windows Service Pack 1 & 2 since it?s not bound neither to the build nor the version of Windows XP. It?s a changer which means it?s will only let you change logons & themes without modifying the structure of any system file; however, this tool does only modify one registry value.

But ONLY to have your themes work you ought to have a hacked uxtheme.dll, if you plan to use it as logon changer you DO NOT require a hacked uxtheme.dll. If you don?t have a hacked uxtheme.dll and you want to patch it, then you can use Neowin uxTheme Multi-patcher which you can find in my webpage too.

Now, let?s move talk about LOVSC & LOVSC Script Generator.

Before dealing with these two tools, I will explain why we should have two tools. When I first developed LOVSC it was for my personal use and I wasn?t thinking about adding many logons & themes to my unattended windows CD; However, I soon realized that LOVSC needs to be updated & compiled each time whenever I want to add a new logon or theme. Since that I was thinking about developing it again to be dynamic but I wasn?t really wishing to make it since I have other things to develop; However, after talking to B?shrat the Sneaky and Prathapml, I started thinking about developing it again. But can this tool be dynamic if it has a source code which needs to be updated often. This problem pushed me to make LOVSC rely on a script file, more precisely on INI file. Then I modified my source code to rely on INI file. But after thinking deeper I realized that this INI file can?t be handled easily, and only experienced users can handle it. Then the idea of creating another tool that simplifies the creation of INI file came to me, and I started developing a new tool that will help people create their INI file, LOVSC.INI the file that LOVSC use in order to detect where are your themes, logons and their thumbnails.

To create your script file using LOVSC Script Generator, you need to do this steps :

1. You have to download your favorites logons & themes which you can find some of them in my website or you can download them from other web site like www.Themexp.org

2. You have to extract pictures relative to them.

A) Use these steps to extract Logons pictures :

Use Resources Hacker which you can download from my web site. Run Resources Hacker and open the EXE of the logon then click on Bitmap (on the left of window) then point to 100 and click on 1033; then click on Action Menu select Save [Bitmap : 100 : 1033].. and save the picture. Repeat the same action for all logons you have download.

Note : Some downloaded EXE logons have Logonui.exe as their name, this name is the same as the original logon that come with Windows XP, PLEASE RENAME THIS DOWNLOADED EXE TO HAVE A DIFFERENT NAME FROM LOGONUI.EXE IN ORDER TO KEEP YOU SYSTEM INTACT.

B) Use these steps to extract Themes pictures :

Extract the theme file that you have download to this location %windir%\resources\themes then click on a free zone in your desktop using the right mouse button, a popup menu appear, click on properties, then a windows will appear, in the first tab click on themes list and locate the new theme, select it and apply it. When it?s completely applied press Print-Screen keyboard key to make a snapshot. Then run MSPAINT and click on Edit menu, then click paste and finally save the picture.

Note : To have your downloaded themes working two conditions must be fulfilled : First, you need a Hacked uxtheme.dll and second Themes service must not be disabled.

Normally, Themes service is always activated.

But the problem is in the hacked uxtheme.dll, you may search for it on the web respecting it matches the version & the build of your windows or you can download Neowin multi-patcher from my webpage. In any case I am not responsible for any misuse or damage to your system in anyway. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

2. Now we should create thumbnails for them. You can use Microsoft ImageResizer to create thumbnails. And for best performance the thumbnails should be a JPG and should not exceed 145x113.

Note : ImageResizer is a Powertoy for Windows XP, when you install it?s add an action to the popup menu. Whenever you click a picture with the right click, Resize the picture appears in the popup menu.

3. When you finish all your thumbnails, run LOVSC Script Generator. It?s has three tabs, the first is reserved for logons, the second is reserved for themes, and the third one is reserved to customize the LOVSC.

A) To add a logon, click Add in the logons Tab, a window appears and asks you for the description of your logon, asks you for the EXE of the logon, and finally it asks you for the thumbnail. Click OK and voila the logon is added to the list of logons.

If you want to modify it click Edit or click Remove if you want to delete it.

B) To add a theme, follow the same steps in the Visual Styles Tab.

C) If you wish to translate this tool to another language then the third tab is for you, because there you can customize the text that is shown by LOVSC; for example in Mainprogram you can put any text you wish, which will appear in the Title bar of LOVSC.

You can also choose a logo for this tool. To do so, click Logo File Button and select a Jpg with 80x120.

In addition to that, you can specify a text file that will be displayed in the forth tab of LOVSC which may contain any explanation or release notes or additional info for users in your work if you have a corporate version of windows.