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OSXFAQ Mac OS X Tip-of-the-Day 
System Tricks - Create a Logon Message
By Adrian Mayo - Editor - OSXFAQ
The logon window shows the computer name below the Apple logo and 'Mac
OS X'. Replace the computer name with your own custom message.
(How does one take a screenshot of the logon window, other than using a
camera? Aha, see Friday's tip.)
Edit the file 'com.apple.loginwindow.plist' in the folder
Library:Preferences in the root of your system disc. The file is
writeable only by root, so use the Terminal and issue the command:
sudo pico /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist
Add the following lines below '<dict>':
<key>LoginwindowText</key>
<string>Your custom message...</string>
To get:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList"$gt;
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>LoginwindowText</key>
<string>Your custom message...</string>
<key>PicturePathLW</key>
<string>/Library/User Pictures/Animals/Dragonfly.tif</string>
<key>RetriesUntilHint</key>
<integer>3</integer>
<p>
...
In Pico, to save the file and exit type:
Control-O Return Control-X
Note that this works for the Login Window, but not the login seen for
fast user switching. I tried editing the file
'com.apple.loginwindow.plist' in the folder Library:Preferences of my
home directory, but to no avail.
Change the login window. If you are a developer, check out this:
/System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityAgentPlugins/loginwindow.bundle/
Contents/Resources/English.lproj/login.nib
(Or appropriate localisation.)
Also, by playing with some of the images in that folder, you can change
the look of the login window. For example, 'applelogo.tif' looks a
likely candidate. I'd recommend to keep the image the same size, and
make sure it is still a .tif image. I haven't tried this myself.
Enjoy !! :-)
Panther 10.3.8
To discuss this tip in the OSXFAQ Mac OS X Tip-of-the-Day Forum, click here:
http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewforum.php?f=100
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