Changing shell in WinXP

[eljainc]

Hello,

Can someone provide some assistance on the modification of the shell
in WinXP (either home or Pro)? In our case it is Win XP Pro.

We are currently using a batch file to replace explorer.exe as the
shell, by the following key in registry

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\shell

However, what is happening is that Windows takes 30 seconds to timeout
the execution of the batch file before the desktop becomes active.

In the batch file, I have to do something like:

ping localhost -n 30 > nul

to give a 30 second delay. This throws off the timing of everything
else in the batch file to run.


I spoke with a Microsoft enginner and he said that the explorer.exe
application raised an event that signals to Windows that the system is
finally up and running.


Does anyone have documentation on this event/signal that is raised?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Newbie Coder]

Eljainc,

Your spyware/virus scanners are going to pick this up as suspicious & may try to delete
it. Many trojans plug into WinLogon, remember?

If you use Sophos/McCrappy/AVG antivirus you won't have to worry about being detected as
they couldn't even detect the simplest of items, but applications like Spybot/HijackThis
will detect it & then your days are numbered

 

[eljainc]

I never said anything about this machine connecting to the internet
nor spyware/virus scanners being installed.
This machine is more or less "locked down" so that the end user cannot
install applications.

There are shells out there like Litestep, Xoblite, or Geoshell. I need
the documentation on how to change
the shell to a batch file. Perhaps I could compile it to an EXE? I
really think that these shells have an API call or set an event to
tell windows that the system is up and running, thus bypassing the 30
second timeout.

Mike