I'm hoping maybe someone can shead a little light on something I'm needing some quick help on!

I've developed an application that is to be used for my senior project. Essentially, we have created a fully automatic check cashing system. We have built all the hardware and software around the system to make it work like a champ. Everything is good, but we have one final thing that we would like to do.

The user interface is semi-dos like. It has no title bars or menu's. It looks alot like your typical fancy ATM interface. The software runs over Windows 98. I would like the program to be able to run as if Windows were not installed. I'd like to do the following:

1) Replace the Windows boot graphic with a black background
2) Have my program start-up ASAP after windows "loads".

To expand on #2, I have of course placed my program as the Startup and also in the registry. Both these methods work, but the desktop is always loaded before my program is. The better solution would be to have my program load before the desktop (which I doubt is possible). The other envisioned solution is to get rid of the desktop or GUI period!

Any response or suggestion is appreciated!
Phil