AlienSense messing with my login screen

I recently bought an m11x r2. First thing I did was pop in my ssd and reinstall all the drivers. Everything went pretty smoothly. The last thing I installed was the Command Center. After messing around with it a bit I got my settings all right, and decided to disable AlienSense. (If there was some option to use AlienSense without it showing the webcam shot of me at the login screen I would probably use it, but it's a little too slow for me. Anyways that's besides the point.)

Before I installed Command Center, my login screen looked like this:

Imageshack - img0672xl.jpg

With Command Center installed and AlienSense disabled, my login screen now looks like this:

Imageshack - img0671qv.jpg

You can see that my icon has been shrunk and moved down to make room for where the webcam video box used to be. It looks like this after startup, after locking my computer, and after logging out. It forces me to have to click on the icon before typing my password instead of the old default of bringing me up to my password entry ready to type. It is a small annoyance but one that makes my custom made login screen background look bad, and it's just annoying to have to click on the little icon when I'm used to the other way on my desktop.

I have tried disabling all the Alienware startup services with no luck. I uninstalled Command Center (and it went back to normal) then re-installed and the problem came back.

I know that I could just uninstall Command Center, but I was hoping I could fix this problem while leaving it on my machine, because I like to be able to mess with the lights and power settings from time to time.

I was thinking that I could probably fix it somehow in the registry, but I don't know enough about that stuff to just guess.

I was looking around in HKLM>Software>microsoft>windows>authentication and I see some things like FAcredprovfilter and FAcredprov but I have no idea if these are related to what I am looking for. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

 

I made a thread about this same issue awhile back with no luck. Of course I didn't describe it as well as you did with pictures, so maybe you will have better luck. I've learned to live with it, but it is still a pain in the @ss. Hopefully something can be done.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/499080-windows-7-welcome-screen-issue.html

 

wow nice login background ... all the r2 are this way???

 

^^^this^^^

 

No I found the Alienware logo on google or something and added the alienware font on the sides and the blue glow behind them.

And to change the login background it's pretty easy, just follow this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5551311_change-windows-logon-screen.html

 

Use this program, it makes it a lot simpler.

Tweaks.com Logon Changer for Microsoft Windows 7

 

thanx guys

 

You are correct that AlienSense makes some small changes to the domain Credential Provider (Win7 login screen). The easiest way to accomplish what you want while leaving the Command Center installed would be to just de-install AlienSense. C:\Program files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienSense\uninst-fastaccess.exe

Be aware that if you ever want it back, you'll need to fully re-install the Command Center since AlienSense can't be installed separately.

 

Thanks lol I never thought to dig around in the Alienware folder. I did as you said, and after a reboot the problem was still there. So I ran CCleaner figuring there was some registry junk leftover and then logged out to check, works perfectly now!

Thanks again

 

that login screen looks awesome

 

Worked for me, didn't even need to run CCleaner, just logged out after rebooting. Thank you again for your assistance svrep, I hate to uninstall aliensense after you put out the effort to get facebright working for me. Unfortunately I stopped using it when my friend was able to log in to my computer via aliensense. If I decide to give it another chance am I correct in assuming that I can easily reinstall aliensense using the file that you provided to fix facebright?

 

If anyone is interested in making your own, it's pretty easy (even for an unskilled "artist" like me).

You need the Alienware font (aliencaret) - http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/385165-alienware-font.html

Once you have that installed, all I did was make a WordArt in MS Word in a straight vertical line, solid white and bold, using that font. It translates to "ARIMO" on my background, one of my gamertags (also what I had engraved on the bottom). Copy and paste it onto your picture straight from Word to your image editing software (I used paint.net).

Imageshack - backgroundtest.jpg

Here's something to get you started, might want to fix the blue in the middle a little bit if it's off. and just overlay whatever you want written in "Alien" to the left and right sides.

Just a note, your image file must be less than 256 KB or else it won't work. This background isn't even close to that limit but just thought I'd let you know if anyone wanted to use this and do some major editing to it.

 

Yes, you can re-install using the same method. Let's talk a bit about your friend, however. HOW did he or she log in? Could they have known/guessed your password?

 

My friend just sat down in front of my computer and aliensense logged him in. I didn't believe him so I logged out and had him do it again. He does not know my password. Maybe it had something to do with operating under different lighting conditions than I normally do and logging in with my password more than normal because it didn't recognize my face. I'm sure if I cleared the biometric data and rescanned my face it would work as intended. I just never got around to it and have been using my password ever since, which I don't mind now that I've gotten used to the M11x's smaller keyboard.

 

Thanks very much for the extra detail. I do appreciate it.

My guess would still be that your password was typed somehow while he was in front of your computer at some point in the past, but obviously I don't really know that for sure. A true false recognition is always possible, but as you obviously know is incredibly unlikely. Regardless, it should have nothing to do with your logging in more often than usual. That would simply cause it to recognize your own face better and better over time. You're also very correct that the proper next step is to clear your biometric database (and perhaps change your password just as a precaution).

If you see another instance of what you believe to be a true false positive, PM me so I can help you run some diagnostics. It's such a crazy rare event that this would definitely be worth doing. Thanks again!

 

I do not recall ever typing the password in when he was sitting in front of the camera, but it is possible. I'm positive he doesn't know the password though, he was as surprised as I was when it logged him in.

The reason I think the multiple password logins might have affected it is because there was a strong source of light behind my head, leaving my face dark and shadowy. It wouldn't recognize it even after logging in a few times, inadvertently training it to recognize an unrecognizable face. So when my friend sat down it saw another shadowy face that was similar enough that it logged him in. At least that's my theory, I still think it was a fluke though and if I cleared the database it would probably never happen again. I've just gotten used to typing my password and don't feel the need to switch back.

I think it would be more appealing to me if I had a very long password, multiple users, or people looking over my shoulder when I typed my password. As it is I'm happy just typing my nine character password, even happier now that I don't have to spend an extra second clicking on my user icon. Thanks again svrep.

 

You're very welcome and thank you for your reasonable, well throught out discourse. Let me know if I can help further should you ever experience an issue again.

Interesting idea about the shadowy, dark face. You are right in theory that there is less facial detail visible in marginal lighting conditions. We do have measures built in specifically to prevent problems from arising in such situations, however. If there is insufficient detail visible in the facial area to make a high confidence match, AlienSense won't even try. Having enough detail visible is indicated by the presense of the blue "Alien Head" outline that tracks the location of your face. When that outline goes away, there is not enough detail to be confident in the recognition so recognition "turns off" until conditions improve (and the outline returns).

Thanks again.