The changes I made were done with Windows 7 Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1 though most of the changes should work with any version of Windows 7. Be sure to make a backup of everything before you progress as some of these steps can stop windows from working.
I'm writing this from memory so let me know if I've missed anything or it's not clear.
Things you'll need (details on where to get them below):
Resource Hacker
Linux live CD (recommend Linux Mint 11 though a smaller one will do).
Transparent cursor
Windows 7 Boot Updater
Windows 7 Logon Background Changer
1. Setup windows to log on automatically
Follow the instructions here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/377-log-automatically-startup.html2. Take Ownership of files
The first step is to give yourself a shortcut for taking ownership of files. Technically you don't need to do this but it will save you time mucking around with file permissions etc.
There are instructions on doing this here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html3. Hack the resource files
For the next couple of steps you'll need a program called Resource Hacker. Make sure you get the latest beta version. You can get it from here:
http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/When running the program be sure to 'Run as Administrator' (right click on the shortcut and choose 'Run as Administrator').
4. Backup Windows Files
Make a copy of the following files and put the copy on the Desktop
C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll
C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winlogon.exe.mui (the directory may be different if you didn't install as English-US (en-US - get it?)
C:\Windows\Branding\Basebrd\basebrd.dll
Right-click on each file and 'Take Ownership' of them.
5. Remove the Windows Branding
Right click on the shortcut to Resource Hacker (either on the desktop or the start menu) and 'Run as Administrator'.
Now, File-Open and select the basebrd.dll file on the desktop and delete each bitmap resource (click on the bitmap folder on the left, open each item, right click on the numbered file and choose delete).
Save the file.
Detailed instructions for this step are here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31916-log-screen-change-remove-text-branding.html6. Remove 'Welcome Screen' text
Run Resource Hacker as administrator. Open the winlogo.exe.mui file that is on the desktop. Once in the file, choose String from the left menu and delete the text from items 63 and 64.
Save the file.
More details on this step are here:
http://www.ec-tech.info/how-to-change-logon-screen-text-in-windows-seven/7. Remove Welcome Screen spinning circle
Run Resource Hacker as administrator and open the imageres.dll that is on the desktop. Go to the bitmaps section on the left menu and delete each one.
Save the file.
8. Remove other windows cursors that show up.
Download a transparent windows cursor here:
http://www.mp3car.com/software-faqs-solutions-tutorials/122408-tutorial-hide-windows-cursor-transparent.htmlSave it to C:\Windows\Cursors
Open Regedit (Click on the windows button to bring up the start menu and type regedit into the search box at the bottom).
Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Cursors
For each of the entries (you only really need to do the arrow and waiting ones) change the icon to the icon you just downloaded. You may also need to add an extra key (as extended string) for 'Busy'.
9. Copy the hacked resources back in to windows.
For this step you need to copy the updated files from the desktop back to their original locations. It seems it is sometimes possible to do this inside Windows but I kept getting file protection errors so the easy way is to get a live linux cd and reboot your computer from this. (I recommend Linux Mint if you are unfamiliar with Linux). Go to the file explorer in linux and copy the new verison of the file to the original location. Make a backup of the original file first and call it something that you'll remember (eg. imageres_BACK.dll).
10. Change the Windows Logon Screen
You can change the logon screen for Windows 7 using the following program. Be sure to change the text to be 'no shadow' in the settings.
http://www.julien-manici.com/windows_7_logon_background_changer/More details on this step here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5382-log-screen-change.htmlYou would also want to set the desktop background to be the same image you set the logon screen to.
11. Change the boot animation
Grab the Windows 7 Boot Updater from here:
http://www.coderforlife.com/projects/win7boot/Be sure to change the settings to 'No messages'.
You can set a single image or a number of images as an animation.
12. Change windows cursors
This step may or may not be neccessary depending on whether you set your frontend as the Windows shell. Save your current theme and name it 'visible cursors' or something equally obvious. Change the windows cursors to be the same transaprent cursor you used for the system cursors. You can do this by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing personalise and then 'Change Mouse Pointers'. Save the theme to be 'Invisible cursors' or something equally obvious. This will be helpful in case you want to make future system changes. You can get back to a visible cursor just by right clicking the desktop, choosing personalise and switching back to the 'visible cursor' theme. Even though you can't see the cursor you should still be able to work it out.
13. Set Hyperspin as the shell for windows
This step will prevent the taskbar etc showing up at all. I wouldn't do it until you have the rest of your system set up the way you want it. It can be worked around easily enough but it's more convenient to save it until last.
Open up Regedit again. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
If there is no 'Shell' key then create one and set the value to be the path to your frontend. In my case it's: "C:\Emulate\Hyperspin\Hyperspin.exe"
CHANGING THE SHELL BACK: If you need to reverse the above step to get back to normal windows functions, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del in your front end and choose 'New Task' (this might be difficult with invisible cursors but it's doable). Then type c:\Windows\explorer.exe into the box and hit enter. You now have windows back. If you want to change it back permanently, go into regedit and change the shell value above to 'c:\Wiindows\explorer.exe'
That's about it. Good luck.