In
This seems strange.
I am using a re-created XP SP3.
I have one user - Administrator. It was not password
protected, and I changed that as I always have. Then I
re-booted (twice) to assure the password took.
So far I have found that the system boots up without
asking for the password. Why could this happen?
Anyone?
Wei
There is a setting where, after you've entered a password, you can have the
system not bother to ask for the password during boot.
Try creating a new user and when you do, name it something different than
the one already in existence, give it a password, and do nothing to boot
without entering the password if that's part of the process; I'm not certain
it is, but think it is.
Then Shut Down and remove the power plug for 30 seconds or more to be
certain all buffers die off, plug it back in, and start the computer.
You should now get a new screen with both the old and the new accounts
when windows starts. Choose the new account and see if it asks for your
password.
If it does ask, then you can decide which one to keep, or not keep the
old one or keep both. Up to you of course.
If it does not ask for a password, then you could have anything from
malware to plain old file corruption causing the problem of not asking for
your password.
Since it sounds like you don't have backups to rely on, a reiinstall of
windows and all your applications might be in order. If you do reinstall
windows, allow it to also delete the partitions and recreate them.
And watch out; in some places the first, or boot disc, can be labelled as
Disk 0 while in others it's disk 1. If you have multiple drives, it's easy
to get mixed up and install windows to the wrong drive letter. So watch your
screen carefully and write down the drive # and size plus anything else that
looks useful.
Then seriously consider creating a backup strategy. You can always back up
to DVDs if you're short on internal drive space. Even just one backup DVD
will save you from ever having to reinstall Windows again.
And of course be sure you're up to date with all the Hotfixes and Updates
MS provides with its Update Windows functon. You are at SP3, right?
HTH,
Twayne`
