Stardock's Logon Studio allows you to change your Windows XP logon screen without digging into a bunch of system files. (Something I have done before) There are thousands of logons available at www.wincustomize.com and the tool has a built in logon editor if you would like to create your own logon. (More on this later)

There is nothing ground breaking about Login Studio, but it does allow you to add one more bit of customization to your machine, which is one more step to making it your own. Since this is something you are going to see every day when you logon it adds a nice bit of “cool” factor. What is really great is that Logon Studio will actually let you select multiple logons to use and it will rotate through them automatically each time some one logs on to the computer. If at anytime you want to return to the standard Windows logon there is a button to click that will do just that.

The fact that it is free makes this a no brainer download. Install it now and head over to www.wincustomize.com to see if there is logon just for you.

Now on to the bad part. (or maybe the not good part) The logon editor that comes with the program is one of the least helpful tools you will ever use. The instructions are next to useless and the only real way to get through it is by trial and error. That being said once you get past the initial learning curve it is fairly easy to use.

One note of caution, the first time you try to load a different image for the top or bottom sections the program is going to give you an error about an incompatible image and then crash, so make sure you have saved your work before attempting this. The odd thing is that all you need to do is return to editing the logon and reinsert the same image and it will take it. Don’t ask me why, like I said it is a lot of trial and error.

Look for a variety of logons I have created over the next few weeks.