I have xp set up with one account only, password protected. Normally,
xp will load, the welcome screen will come out and you'll have to
click on the icon representing your account, then a box comes up where
you enter your password before continuing into windows. Recently the
behaviour changed. Once the welcome screen loads, the text box to
enter password will come up immediately. I don't need to click on the
icon for the password box to pop up. I'm concerned that there might be
some malware behind this change. Should I be worried?

domoarigato wrote:
> I have xp set up with one account only, password protected. Normally,
> xp will load, the welcome screen will come out and you'll have to
> click on the icon representing your account, then a box comes up where
> you enter your password before continuing into windows. Recently the
> behaviour changed. Once the welcome screen loads, the text box to
> enter password will come up immediately. I don't need to click on the
> icon for the password box to pop up. I'm concerned that there might be
> some malware behind this change. Should I be worried?
>
If you are using the Welcome screen, you should not get a pop-up dialog
to enter username and password. This usually only appears when you have
turned off the Welcome screen.

So, did you turn off the Welcome screen?

On Feb 19, 2:30 am, GateKeeper <GateKee...@earth1ink.net> wrote:
> domoarigato wrote:
> > I have xp set up with one account only, password protected. Normally,
> > xp will load, the welcome screen will come out and you'll have to
> > click on the icon representing your account, then a box comes up where
> > you enter your password before continuing into windows. Recently the
> > behaviour changed. Once the welcome screen loads, the text box to
> > enter password will come up immediately. I don't need to click on the
> > icon for the password box to pop up. I'm concerned that there might be
> > some malware behind this change. Should I be worried?
>
> If you are using the Welcome screen, you should not get a pop-up dialog
> to enter username and password. This usually only appears when you have
> turned off the Welcome screen.
>
> So, did you turn off the Welcome screen?

I don't know the correct term for it but it's the windows xp welcome
screen to log in not the windows classic dialog box.

domoarigato wrote:
> On Feb 19, 2:30 am, GateKeeper <GateKee...@earth1ink.net> wrote:
>> domoarigato wrote:
>>> I have xp set up with one account only, password protected. Normally,
>>> xp will load, the welcome screen will come out and you'll have to
>>> click on the icon representing your account, then a box comes up where
>>> you enter your password before continuing into windows. Recently the
>>> behaviour changed. Once the welcome screen loads, the text box to
>>> enter password will come up immediately. I don't need to click on the
>>> icon for the password box to pop up. I'm concerned that there might be
>>> some malware behind this change. Should I be worried?
>> If you are using the Welcome screen, you should not get a pop-up dialog
>> to enter username and password. This usually only appears when you have
>> turned off the Welcome screen.
>>
>> So, did you turn off the Welcome screen?
>
> I don't know the correct term for it but it's the windows xp welcome
> screen to log in not the windows classic dialog box.
>
In that case, I doubt there is any cause for concern. This may be a
default behaviour linked to a recent update from Microsoft. Since the
actual password is hidden when you enter it, the only way a hacker could
steal the password is with a keystroke logger. And if you have one of
those on your computer, the password will be stolen anyway.

On Feb 19, 11:17 am, GateKeeper <GateKee...@earth1ink.net> wrote:
> domoarigato wrote:
> > On Feb 19, 2:30 am, GateKeeper <GateKee...@earth1ink.net> wrote:
> >> domoarigato wrote:
> >>> I have xp set up with one account only, password protected. Normally,
> >>> xp will load, the welcome screen will come out and you'll have to
> >>> click on the icon representing your account, then a box comes up where
> >>> you enter your password before continuing into windows. Recently the
> >>> behaviour changed. Once the welcome screen loads, the text box to
> >>> enter password will come up immediately. I don't need to click on the
> >>> icon for the password box to pop up. I'm concerned that there might be
> >>> some malware behind this change. Should I be worried?
> >> If you are using the Welcome screen, you should not get a pop-up dialog
> >> to enter username and password. This usually only appears when you have
> >> turned off the Welcome screen.
>
> >> So, did you turn off the Welcome screen?
>
> > I don't know the correct term for it but it's the windows xp welcome
> > screen to log in not the windows classic dialog box.
>
> In that case, I doubt there is any cause for concern. This may be a
> default behaviour linked to a recent update from Microsoft. Since the
> actual password is hidden when you enter it, the only way a hacker could
> steal the password is with a keystroke logger. And if you have one of
> those on your computer, the password will be stolen anyway.

Yes, I did get the windows updates few days ago. Did one of them
change the behavior? Thanks.