I thought it may be useful to post a list of Windows set-up options for an HTPC.
1. To boot without the windows start-up GUI, add “/noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect" in the boot.ini file.
2. To change the default blue background to black in the start-up sequence, change HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors from “0 72 158” to “0 0 0”. It then makes sense to change the desktop colour to black as well.
3. To autologin still using a password, edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
\DefaultUserName & \DefaultPassword. Set \ AutoAdminLogon to “1”. You may have to create these entries. To bypass this, hold the shift key on boot.
4. To add a hibernate button to Theatre view, create a custom button with the command “%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState”.
I’m still looking for a way to remove the complete toolbar – autohide is nearly good enough but there’s still a thin line visible. And to remove the Recycle bin ( at the moment just change the icon to something black, so you cannot see it ).
Ideally as well as a “Party” mode, MC12 could have an “HTPC” mode, to disable anything but the Theatre and Display views and change the “Exit” button in the Theatre menu to really exit MC.