Now that you have made a masterpiece (obviously with all that work you did it has to be a masterpiece) I'm sure you are eager to share your login with the world. The unfortunate news is that you aren't going to make any money from your login. But that isn't what matters here. What matters is that you spent all that time making the login, you should want everyone else to admire all the work you have done.

First, let's prepare our login to be uploaded to a host somewhere. First and foremost, if you have used someone else's artwork (like I did for the main bitmap) it is imperative that

1) You have permission to do so. If the graphic is in the free domain, don't worry about this, but if it is downloadable exclusively from a site that specializes in graphics or wallpapers, I would write to the webmaster of that site and ask for permission before uploading the login to prevent hostility and copyright infringement claims. I have permission from the artist at cognitivedistortion.com (as well as visualparadox.com) to use (some) graphics so I am already covered.

2) You must include a readme that credits the author of the wallpaper and it's a good idea to note the author of the graphic in the description when you upload your login. My readme for this login looks like  readme.txt ( 784bytes ) Number of downloads: 335
It's simple yet credits the author for his hard work.

I'm sure you'll find that if you write to a couple different artists and tell them what you are using their wallpapers for, you can probably get permission from them to use the graphic. Always do this before you upload the login just to be safe, but I haven't had anyone refuse me yet. If the graphic is advertised as being in the 'free domain' or is available from several different free wallpaper sites, then you can use that graphic without fear of copyright infringement. The reason I contact artists and ask for permission to use their work is because their work is usually better. The guy over at cognitivedistortion.com, for example, has some mind-blowing wallpapers and this is the reason that I am using wallpapers from his site (mostly).

Next, we need to take care of the screenshots. Some sites want just a 420X315 *.jpg screenshot. Some want a full-sized screenshot (i.e. 1024X768 *.jpg screenshot). Almost all sites will want the login uploaded as a *.zip file. This is what you can do:



1) Apply your login and switch user.

2) Mouse over the account list or select an account like you are about to log in.

3) Hit the 'print screen' button found above the delete and insert keys (above the arrow keys).

4) Log into your desktop and open up MSPaint.

5) Hit ctrl+V to paste (or right click and choose paste) and your screenshot will be pasted into MSPaint.

6) Go to File-->Save as.. and name the pic the same name as your login but append a 'lg' to the end. Then change the drop down menu so that instead of *.bmp being selected you have *.jpeg/*.jpg selected. For example, if you named the login 'Kewllogin.exe' then name the full screenshot 'kewlloginlg.jpg'. You shouldn't have to add the *.jpg extension manually after you have chosen it from the drop down menu.

7) Find your screenshot and open it up in a graphics editing program (or try to do this in paint).

8) Scale the screenshot down to 420X315 and save as 'Kewlloginsm.jpg'. Notice the sm in place of the lg.

9) Put the login, readme, and both screenshots in the same directory.

10) Hold ctrl down, and left click on all four files. This should highlight all of them.

11) Right click on the login itself, and choose 'Send to-->Compressed (zip) folder'. This will create a zipped folder named after whatever file you right clicked on (which is why I said to right click on the login instead of the screenshots).

12) Now you have a zip folder with everything you need in it. Your zip folder should be between 500KB and 5MB. If it's larger than 5MB, you probably used *.bmp's for the screenshots instead of *.jpg's. Go back and change this as most sites won't let you upload the zip folder if it's larger than 5MB.

13) Upload your zipped folder to bfarber.com and that's it!



I hope this tutorial helped you get a grasp on what you are doing with ResHacker. I believe you should be able to make a login with the information presented here. If you run into problems, just visit the forums and ask any questions you may have there. You can also email me if you wish, but I'll probably respond quicker in the forums.

Thanks for reading and happy login creating!