This is not a Kix issue - the welcome screen is displayed by Vista, Win7, and Server 2008 for 30 seconds by default.

We configure all of our systems now with the following setting:
 Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System:DelayedDesktopSwitchTimeout=0
You can easily set this during build, and it will eliminate the issue that you describe.

I've never seen the "blue arrow" issue - you're on your own there! \:D

Glenn
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Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D