no logon wanted

[Francis Marsden]

when doing a clean install of xp home, how to ensure that no user logon is
required when windows boots up?

 

[Gordon]

when doing a clean install of xp home, how to ensure that no user logon is
required when windows boots up?

You ARE aware of the security implications of this? You are aware that if
you go ahead with this, ANYONE can access your machine and your data, for
any purpose?

 

[smlunatick]

You ARE aware of the security implications of this? You are aware that if
you go ahead with this, ANYONE can access your machine and your data, for
any purpose?

XP Home = single PC in a family "home." Therefore, usually the only
PC in the "house" and "should" not have too much of important
sensitive info stored on it.

If the XP Home has only one user account, by not giving a "password"
to this account "should" let the system directly to the Desktop"

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

XP Home = single PC in a family "home." Therefore, usually the only
PC in the "house" and "should" not have too much of important
sensitive info stored on it.

I don't see why its being a single PC in a family home means (even if
you add "usually") that there is no important or sensitive data on it.
Even single PCs often have important data, and family computers are
often used for online banking, stock trading, online purchases, etc.
In fact, most family PCs probably *do* have lots of important and
sensitive data on them.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

XP Home = single PC in a family "home."

Not always true, by any means.

Therefore, usually the only
PC in the "house" and "should" not have too much of important
sensitive info stored on it.

I'm not sure why you might think that, but in practice, you'd be very wrong.

XP Home systems regularly have much personal and financial information on
them, and they are often networked.

Being the only PC in the house (if that were true, and it often isn't)
makes it if anything more likely to have a wider variety of sensitive
information, for more users who aren't aware of security implications.

If the XP Home has only one user account, by not giving a "password"
to this account "should" let the system directly to the Desktop"

In addition, the XP task scheduler will, by default, not run without a
password. This means that tasks that require the Windows Task Scheduler,
like many anti-virus and backup programs, simply won't run things like scans
or backups.

Yes, you can defeat this behaviour, but doing this is a worse idea than not
using a password.

Create a password for the account, get TweakUI, and use the Autologon
control under Login to take you to the desktop of the account you want.
Now you'll have a password, you won't be asked to log on, and scheduled
tasks will run.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

when doing a clean install of xp home, how to ensure that no user logon is
required when windows boots up?

If there is a single user account with no password, that's what will happen.

However, this is not only insecure, but by default, programs that use the
Windows Task Scheduler will silently fail to run their tasks - like backups
and antivirus scans - because Windows Task Scheduler by default won't run
tasks if there's no password on the account. This is a security feature.

Best plan is to add a decent password, then use TweakUI and the Autologon
feature to open the selected account.

HTH
-pk