ntoskrnl.exe replacement....

[pawhe]

As this is an XP customise newsgroup, a question on just that...... I've
installed StyleXP to be able to skin WinXP. Whilst looking for themes, etc.,
I found the that there are two other specific areas that seem quite popular
to customise - the boot screen and the logon screen. But the boot screen
involves replacing "ntoskrnl.exe" (due to the boot screen graphics being
embedded within it<?>). By it's name, ntoskrnl.exe is the main NT Operating
System Kernel. So to replace that (being an exe) with something downloaded
off the Internet seems highly risky (to say the least). But there's hundreds
of boot screen replacements. So there must be a demand for them..... So
what's the score?

Could someone create an ntoskrnl.exe file that compromises my machine? Or
is it just a boot loading file that refers to the real core of the OS
somewhere else (which isn't being replaced), so it's safe to do this? Just
how risky is it to replace your boot and login files?

Thanks,

P.

 

[Guest]

Considering the fact that your boot screen and sign on
screen are their only for a very short time why mess with
them???

 

[Lorne Smith]

Yes it's quite possible for someone to put malicious code into this file,
which has system level access to your computer so it can get at everything.
I'ev not actually heard of any case of this though...

What you can do, if you are unsure, is use a program which edits your own
NTOSKRNL.EXE file and inserts the picture of your choice. Stardock to such
a program (free too). This is probably a much safer way to do it. It can
also extract the images out of existing ntoskrnl files so you can download
ones you like, pull the pics out, and put them into your own manually...

HTH

Lorne