How to Make Your Computer Greet You

Your computer can display messages and talk to you.

Numerous people will have heard of the "Good Morning, Dave" greeting when a fictitious computer in the film "2001 Space Odyssey" begins. This effect can be replicated on any computer via use of the startup folder when a user logs in. It is possible to have a brief message displayed for all users upon login by changing group policy, but the startup folder offers many more options for greeting you when you log in to the system, including any message you wish combined with audio, video and even photographs.

Instructions

1. Go to "Start," and in the "Search" or "Run" box type "startup."

2. Place a document in the startup folder with your own greeting. This can be anything you wish, such as a word document with large text, a notepad document, HTML document or anything you wish to use to greet you when you logon. The document will be activated at logon and opened. Copy a file using drag and drop with the mouse from a folder to the startup folder, or right click on a file from the source, click "Copy" on the context menu, right click in the startup folder and "paste."

3. Add audio to your login by recording a personal message via the voice recorder available in the "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories." Choose the Sound Recorder program from the available options. Record your audio using a suitable microphone, and take note of the audio file name for transferring to the startup folder.

4. Save the audio file, or any other greeting file you wish, to the startup folder to play when you log in. You can add any file you wish to the startup menu, including video or photographs for display.

References

• Microsoft: Run a Program Automatically When Windows Starts