Want to modify the Windows 7 "Welcome" splash screen to include your company logo? Remove certain icons from users' desktops while adding others? Disable writing to flash drives for security purposes? You can do all that and lots more with WinBubble, a free utility that's best described as a Windows 7 Tweak UI--on steroids!

I've seen plenty of Windows tweakers in my day, but few with as many options and capabilities as WinBubble. The tool's 10 tabbed sections include Icons, Windows 7, Security, Optimize, IE, and More Policies (which itself has four tabs' worth of settings).

Obviously I can't list every option afforded by the utility, but I can sum it up this way: If there's a change you want to make to Windows 7, chances are excellent WinBubble will let you make it--quickly and easily.

You can use it on your own system(s), natch, but it's also useful for tweaking users' machines (especially those users who need to be "locked down" from making a bunch of unauthorized changes--you know the kind). Thankfully, WinBubble is portable: you can run it from a flash drive.

A couple final thoughts, courtesy of 4sysops' Michael Pietroforte (who introduced me to WinBubble):

WinBubble not only allows you to tweak Windows 7, but you can also use it to launch Windows tools. In addition, you can add your own tools to the WinBubble user interface, which makes this free tweaking tool a useful companion for sneakernet admins. Of course, you can also RDP to a user's desktop and launch the tweaking tool from a network share.

WinBubble may not have the world's sexiest interface, but it gets the job done, and definitely deserves a place in any IT admin's toolbox.