Automatic logon is for you, if you primarily use just one user account on your computer and do not want to be forced to click the username and then enter your password each time you start your computer.
Enabling automatic logon is a great technique that will save you time that is often wasted when your computer is waiting for you to key in your information.
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Even if you do not have a password assigned to your account, you are still required by the logon Welcome screen to click your name to sign in. And if you have the Welcome screen disabled, then you are still forced to click the OK button on the Windows 2000 style logon screen to get in.
Modern PCs may support wake-on-lan. If you are using an ethernet chipset that supports this. You may have to enable wake-on-lan in your BIOS.. Continue reading on how to Wake Up Your System From Remote Location.Having to do these tasks yourself is unnecessary and just a waste of time. Automatic logon can be a great feature, but it can also create a security problem for your computer. If you use your computer for business, if you have data you prefer to keep safe from others, or both, I strongly recommend that you do not enable this feature.
If you happen to step out of your office or if your laptop is stolen, you have left the door wide open to your computer. By enabling automatic logon, you are trading convenience for physical access security. However, you are not changing your network security so your data is still safe from network attackers. The risk of someone remotely connecting to your computer is the same as if you did not have automatic logon enabled.
Hacking your computer with a program called Tweak UI, which is an unsupported application written by Microsoft, allows users to enable the hidden automatic logon feature.
Open up your Web browser and visit www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp to download a copy of Tweak UI. You will find the link to download the install file on the right side of the page. If you have a standard CPU, like the majority of us, make sure you download Tweak UI and not Tweak UI for Itanium-based systems. The Itanium version is for the new 64-bit CPU by Intel. If you are one of the rare users of that new CPU, however, download that version.
Once you have the application installed, enabling automatic logon is really easy:
- Start up Tweak UI by clicking the Start Menu and navigating to the PowerToys for Windows XP folder and then selecting Tweak UI.
- Expand the Logon item and then click Autologon, as shown in Figure above.
- Then, check the Log on Automatically at System Startup box, as shown in figure above.
- Type in the username that you want to use, if it is not already entered into the User Name field.
- Click the Set Password button and type your password in both text boxes, as shown in inner figure above.
- Once you have entered your password twice, click OK to save the password. Then click OK once more to save the autologon settings and close Tweak UI. Your system is now set up to log you on automatically.
Should you ever change your mind and wish to disable the automatic logon feature, just go into Tweak UI again and uncheck the Log on Automatically at System Startup box.
Also Read: Modern PCs may support wake-on-lan. If you are using an ethernet chipset that supports this. You may have to enable wake-on-lan in your BIOS.. Continue reading on how to Wake Up Your System From Remote Location.
