Why can't I customise my start-up screen on a Windows 7 computer?

Q Back in the days of Windows 3.1, I learned how to add a custom screen during start-up, but have since forgotten how I did it. Can this be done for Windows 7?

My plan is to create an ‘owner’ screen for my laptop so that if it is stolen, it should make the computer harder to sell.
Cyril D Blount

A Unfortunately, the bolstered security features in Windows 7 make this kind of low-level tweaking all but impossible – you can read Microsoft’s explanation of why it doesn't allow start-up screens to be tweaked here.

More to the point, it’s trivial to reformat a hard disk and re-install Windows to erase such owner information on a stolen computer.

If you still want to do something like this, another option would be to create a custom Windows Desktop wallpaper with the necessary information, or design a corresponding custom Windows logon screen background.

You can download the free Logon Changer for Windows 7 here.