Hello there,

I've had a good look through the forum, but can't find the answer to this question....

Is it possible to start windows (xp) and boot straight into Mach? Also can the title bar be hidden? We want to retro fit a machine with Mach but don't want the users of the machine to mess around with windows. In an ideal world, the machine would be turned on and the first screen to be displayed would be the Mach screen.... Does that make sense?

All the best,

James

You can certainly boot straight into Mach no problem, all you need to do is drag the desktop shorcut you use down to the start button then All Programs then up to the StartUp folder and drop it in there. Next time you start Windows Mach will start right away.
Hiding title bar may be possible but think that will need something like windows blinds to alter that.
Hood

Hello Hood,

Thanks for your swift reply....

Yes I already have Mach in the start up folder, the problem is people can still 'mess' with the windows setup. I can't believe that no one has wanted to do this before? I seems such a shame to have this great bit of software that really can't be let loose on the idiots down on the shop floor because of them 'tinkering' with the fundamental setup of the PC.

I've try windows blinds but it really isn't quite the answer, as you can still get to bits of windows.

James

Maybe setting up Admin and normal accounts could do it? Never messed with them much but might be possibe to have your normal users accounts with very limited permissions?

Hood

Hmm, that's an idea.

Not somehting that I've played with before but I'll have an investigate.

Thanks for the input.

James

Do a VBS or CMD on start up that will remove all access to the taskbar and start menu, modify windows boot and shut down screen (this can all be allot of work) then  "Hide desktop". BTW If Windows comes out with an update you can lose your Boots screen and you will have to recopy over the files.

 "Hide desktop"

1. Right-click on your desktop.

2. Select Arrange Icons By.

3. You will see a Show Desktop Icons with a check on it; click that.

4. To return the appearance of your desktop items, repeat steps one through three.


Its a pain but if you do image copy of the drive for production then its worth it

another thing you might want to disable the ability to "Right click" on the desktop as well...


Open up the "run" command (if it is disabled use 'Windows Key' + R)
Type in "regedit" but without the quotations. Then push enter.
Navigate to:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
Look for the value name "NoViewContextMenu" (if no such value exists, then just go ahead and create it)
Make sure the type is REG_DWORD
Type in a 0 to disable right clicking and a 1 to enable right clicking.
Restart your computer after the modification.

Make sure you create a backup of your registry and create a system restore point.

Thank you, Jason.

Good info J

Hood

That's great.

Thanks for the info.....

James