In the registry, navigate to HKEY USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors. Change the Background key with the RGB values that you want to change the screen to. The default values are 0 78 152. Log off for the changes to take effect.

Why change the logon screen? we have two XP machines connected to a KVM switch and each serves a different function. I need to let the user identify the proper machine before they log on and this provides an easy way to do so.

Two of the most important global brands have teamed up to execute a great relationship. Nike and Apple are behind the Nike+ product line, combining the Nike running line and Apple’s iPod infrastructure. Not a new concept but the execution is excellent.

We have several users at the office who do not have administrator rights to their computers (this is for several reasons) but once in a while we have to make some changes which require an administrator-level account. Up to this point we follow the same routine, they log off, I log on using an admin account, make the changes, log off and let the user log back to their machine. Pretty disruptive routine if you ask me.

I asked a couple of colleagues who are deeply involved with managing Windows systems for a solution to this problem. There has to be a way to invoke the control panel applications, or any part of the Windows operating system, with the appropriate permissions — just like if I was logged in with the appropriate account. Of course there is a solution, after all I am not the only doing this kind of thing.

The solution is the runas command which allows you to invoke a program or process using the credentials of a different account. I attempted to run the control panel from the command line runas /u:admin_account "control" however that did not work as I expected it, I could not launch the control panel this way.

Shortly there after, I received another email from one of our tech guys who is also a MS MVP and he had the solution to my problem. I have to launch a command line window with the admin rights first, then I can use this console to launch the appropriate control panel applet. To launch the console window with admin rights I execute this command: runas /u:admin_account cmd and enter the appropriate password when prompted. I can execute the control applets under the admin account.

Here is an entry from the MS knowledgebase which describes some more of the control applets and their filenames. Now, we don’t have to do the whole log off – log on dance every time we need to make a configuration change to these machines. Thanks guys for the help.

I have blogged before about finding an alternative to Quicksilver (an OS X must-have application) for Windows. I tried a couple of free applications in the recent past but were soon removed from my system because they could not meet the standard raised by Quicksilver.

However, I recently found a referece to Launchy and my search has ended. Lauchy is not 100% like Quicksilver, there are many features missing but it meets my needs at the moment. I was looking for a solution that would allow me to quickly launch a program or folder with only a few keystrokes and certainly without much of a time delay.

Launchy by default will index your computer looking for shortcuts (.lnk files) but you can easily add more files types through the program’s options. You can also specify which locations within your machine should Launchy be looking for files to index, this was key to my desire to keep Launchy installed.

When working on a specific project, I usually keep going back to one folder within my machine or I need to access one of the network shares that I have acess to but I don’t recall the drive letter it was assigned. To help Launchy meet my needs, I created a folder Launchy Locations within the My Documents folder, I added this location to Launchy’s menu to make sure it is indexed. In the launchy locations folder, I place shortcuts to the folders that I need quick access to from launchy. I also rename these shortcuts with the names that I want to use within the launcher.

Download Launchy!

Sometimes the answer to a problem is so obvious that you can’t see it right away. I spent about an hour the other for a program or a script that would allow me to set the security properties for several PDF documents in one fast swoop. Google provided a couple of commercial applications and I even considered Adobe’s own Capture Agent Pack which includes a Security Agent and could handle my workflow request.

The answer to my problem was already installed on my computer in the form of Adobe Acrobat Professional. Similar to other Adobe products, Acrobat allows you to create Batch Sequences which can then be applied to one or several PDF documents.

A task that I thought was going to take hours to get complete was handled in a matter of minutes and even better without any costs. Let this be a reminder to check your toolbox before you make a decision to buy software you really don’t need. Although, it would’ve been fun to check out the Acrobat SDK to see what I could’ve come up.