Birthday Suprise

[DevilMayCry42]

OK, so upfront, I don't know if this belongs in the help forums, because its not the sort of help thats usually posted there...

My brother's birthday is coming up...etc.etc.etc. so I got him Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast (long story, short version is I got it for him AGES ago, but had to return it as it wouldn't run on our PC at the time, luckily now he has a sorta old laptop that'll run it).
I'm gonna nick his laptop the night before his birthday and install it without him knowing, patch it and all. I have one question though. Is there anyway I can get a message to pop up on bootup, pretty much saying 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' and some other message I have yet to think of, and a button that then links to the game's *.exe file and runs it straight away. Could a small app be written that I then set to run at boot up or what?

Any help is appreciated,

DMC42


EDIT: Oh yeh, his Birthday is on the 14th, so please if you can think of anything/assist me before then it would be REALLY appreciated

[Ferral]

Found this on Techtrends which seems to be quite easy to do via the registry :

Display banner popup when Windows boot. - Techtrends

It has an ok button on the bottom of the flag which will then boot into Windows when clicked. Then after that create a link in the startup to the games .exe file and it will start of its own accord as long as the correct disc is in

[DevilMayCry42]

Awesome idea, thanks for that Ferral. Just for safety, I'm gonna back up his registry for him before I do it, I don't think he'd appreciate his PC getting wrecked as a birthday present...

Just out of curiosity, is there any other way that doesn't involve the registry? Ferral's idea is awesome, but my first thoughts were writing some program, then running it at bootup

[usxhe190]

a crude way is to open up a office presentation via the start-up icon which links to the exe file.

[Ferral]

Old school way of doing it would be doing it in Dos and creating a .bat file with the message in so it would show during boot. Thing is though with XP and Vista it is a cut down version of DOS and it wouldn't show.

[grayg1]

You could always create a picture with a message written on and set it as his desktop background.

Maybe a picture from the game with the words "click me" or "play me" and an arrow pointing at your self positioned game exe

[TheAnimus]

sounds like a perfect "hello world" application.

if (DateTime.Today == new DateTime(2008,07,07)
{
Application.Run(mainForm);
}

You can download C# express for free from microsoft.

Then simply add your app to the start up folder, it will only show on the birthday.

This way you can also add it as a scheduled task. Too make sure it goes off.

[DevilMayCry42]

sounds like a perfect "hello world" application.

if (DateTime.Today == new DateTime(2008,07,07)
{
Application.Run(mainForm);
}

You can download C# express for free from microsoft.

Then simply add your app to the start up folder, it will only show on the birthday.

This way you can also add it as a scheduled task. Too make sure it goes off.

Sounds perfect, could you also show me a way to include a happy birthday message in that aswell?

[TheAnimus]

download and install C# Express.

I'll tell you then.

(don't worry, its piss easy).

[DevilMayCry42]

Downloaded...
I think I should be upfront - I tried to teach myself VB and then Java and failed

[Disturbedguy]

Isnt there a much much simpler way?

Stick something in the start up folder so when he starts the system it pops up?

[Eddd]

Change his desktop background to a happy birthday picture done on paint?

[Virtual Monkey]

You could always create a picture with a message written on and set it as his desktop background.

Maybe a picture from the game with the words "click me" or "play me" and an arrow pointing at your self positioned game exe

This sounds like the best way of doing it, especially if you're not a programmer. It's easy to implement and for him to change after his birthday's over, too.

Nice idea btw

[Eddd]

You could always create a picture with a message written on and set it as his desktop background.

Maybe a picture from the game with the words "click me" or "play me" and an arrow pointing at your self positioned game exe

Change his desktop background to a happy birthday picture done on paint?

Woops, didn't read all of the posts before replying. I second grayg1's idea

[DevilMayCry42]

Perfect, will do, thanks for the awesome idea...I don't know how I missed Grayg1's idea the first time I whizzed through the replies!

Now, to convince him I forgot he's turning 18.........

[Virtual Monkey]

Perfect, will do, thanks for the awesome idea...I don't know how I missed Grayg1's idea the first time I whizzed through the replies!

Now, to convince him I forgot he's turning 18.........

Haha. Make sure he leaves his laptop somewhere convenient though!