suggestion - password

[Dave Horne]

If this has been suggested before, my apologies. I'm the only account on my
home computer but for security reasons maintain a password. It would be
great if everything would still load behind the password prompt screen. The
typical scenario is this, I turn the computer on and it takes a minute of so
for the password prompt to appear. I enter in the password and it still
takes more than a minute for everything to load.

It would be great if I only had to turn on the computer and when I returned
several minutes later to enter my password that everything would ready to
go. Just a suggestion.

 

[Malke]

If this has been suggested before, my apologies. I'm the only account
on my home computer but for security reasons maintain a password. It
would be great if everything would still load behind the password prompt
screen. The typical scenario is this, I turn the computer on and it
takes a minute of so for the password prompt to appear. I enter in the
password and it still takes more than a minute for everything to load.

It would be great if I only had to turn on the computer and when I
returned several minutes later to enter my password that everything
would ready to go. Just a suggestion.

Actually, it does work this way. You have some programs/processes that
are starting with Windows and are taking their own sweet time about it.
My Vista is almost as quick to get to the password prompt as my XP box
(almost). Examine what you have starting with Windows. Typical culprits
are antivirus programs like McAfee or Norton (not recommended anyway),
SpySweeper, other programs loading into memory that don't need to, etc.
Obviously you will want your antivirus to load but if you have one of
the real resource hogs like McAfee or Norton you may wish to uninstall
it and use a better, lighter program instead such as NOD32, Kaspersky,
or Avast (free).

Start Orb>Start Search box>msconfig [enter]

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation,
type the password, or click Continue. Then see what is on the Startup
tab. It is always better to stop programs from starting with Windows
from within the programs themselves, so look in their Options before
changing anything with msconfig - you're just examining things at this
stage. If a program doesn't offer any way to control startup from its
Preferences, then use msconfig to uncheck the box next to its name,
Apply and OK out. You don't need to restart immediately, but the next
time you do you'll get a dialog saying you've used the Utility. Usually
in Vista this dialog will be blocked by Windows Defender and you'll need
to allow it so you can then tick the box that says in effect, "don't
bother me about this again".

Important - Do not use the System Configuration Utility to stop
processes. Instead, use Start>Run>services.msc [enter] and do not stop
any services unless you really really know what you're doing.


Malke

 

[Dave Horne]

If this has been suggested before, my apologies. I'm the only account on
my home computer but for security reasons maintain a password. It would
be great if everything would still load behind the password prompt
screen. The typical scenario is this, I turn the computer on and it
takes a minute of so for the password prompt to appear. I enter in the
password and it still takes more than a minute for everything to load.

It would be great if I only had to turn on the computer and when I
returned several minutes later to enter my password that everything would
ready to go. Just a suggestion.

Actually, it does work this way. You have some programs/processes that are
starting with Windows and are taking their own sweet time about it. My
Vista is almost as quick to get to the password prompt as my XP box
(almost). Examine what you have starting with Windows. Typical culprits
are antivirus programs like McAfee or Norton (not recommended anyway),
SpySweeper, other programs loading into memory that don't need to, etc.
Obviously you will want your antivirus to load but if you have one of the
real resource hogs like McAfee or Norton you may wish to uninstall it and
use a better, lighter program instead such as NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast
(free).

Start Orb>Start Search box>msconfig [enter]

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation,
type the password, or click Continue. Then see what is on the Startup tab.
It is always better to stop programs from starting with Windows from
within the programs themselves, so look in their Options before changing
anything with msconfig - you're just examining things at this stage. If a
program doesn't offer any way to control startup from its Preferences,
then use msconfig to uncheck the box next to its name, Apply and OK out.
You don't need to restart immediately, but the next time you do you'll get
a dialog saying you've used the Utility. Usually in Vista this dialog will
be blocked by Windows Defender and you'll need to allow it so you can then
tick the box that says in effect, "don't bother me about this again".

Important - Do not use the System Configuration Utility to stop processes.
Instead, use Start>Run>services.msc [enter] and do not stop any services
unless you really really know what you're doing.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Malke, thanks for the info. DH

 

[Dave Horne]

If this has been suggested before, my apologies. I'm the only account on
my home computer but for security reasons maintain a password. It would
be great if everything would still load behind the password prompt
screen. The typical scenario is this, I turn the computer on and it
takes a minute of so for the password prompt to appear. I enter in the
password and it still takes more than a minute for everything to load.

It would be great if I only had to turn on the computer and when I
returned several minutes later to enter my password that everything would
ready to go. Just a suggestion.

Actually, it does work this way. You have some programs/processes that are
starting with Windows and are taking their own sweet time about it. My
Vista is almost as quick to get to the password prompt as my XP box
(almost). Examine what you have starting with Windows. Typical culprits
are antivirus programs like McAfee or Norton (not recommended anyway),
SpySweeper, other programs loading into memory that don't need to, etc.
Obviously you will want your antivirus to load but if you have one of the
real resource hogs like McAfee or Norton you may wish to uninstall it and
use a better, lighter program instead such as NOD32, Kaspersky, or Avast
(free).

Start Orb>Start Search box>msconfig [enter]

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation,
type the password, or click Continue. Then see what is on the Startup tab.
It is always better to stop programs from starting with Windows from
within the programs themselves, so look in their Options before changing
anything with msconfig - you're just examining things at this stage. If a
program doesn't offer any way to control startup from its Preferences,
then use msconfig to uncheck the box next to its name, Apply and OK out.
You don't need to restart immediately, but the next time you do you'll get
a dialog saying you've used the Utility. Usually in Vista this dialog will
be blocked by Windows Defender and you'll need to allow it so you can then
tick the box that says in effect, "don't bother me about this again".

Important - Do not use the System Configuration Utility to stop processes.
Instead, use Start>Run>services.msc [enter] and do not stop any services
unless you really really know what you're doing.

Malke, there might have been a misunderstanding here. Whether I wait one
minute or 20 minutes to enter my password, the time after my password is
entered is always the same. I still have to wait for Sidebar to load and as
well as everything else, and that takes a few minutes. What I would like,
and perhaps this isn't possible, _everything_ gets loaded before I enter my
password.

I turn on the computer, make breakfast, and minutes later am greeted by my
password prompt. Since I'm the only user (though using a password for
security), I'd like to have everything loaded as soon as I type my password.

I'm not talking about loggin off and back on, I'm talking about the initial
start of the computer.

 

[Malke]

I turn on the computer, make breakfast, and minutes later am greeted by
my password prompt. Since I'm the only user (though using a password
for security), I'd like to have everything loaded as soon as I type my
password.

I'm not talking about loggin off and back on, I'm talking about the
initial start of the computer.

Yes, that was a better description of your problem and I see what you
mean. However your first post says that (paraphrased) you turn the
computer on and in less than a minute you are at the Welcome Screen and
then in less than another minute you are at your Desktop. I don't see
how this is abnormal or a problem. If the timing is really as you
describe, then nothing is wrong with your machine.

When you turn on a computer - any computer running any operating system
- it has to go through the POST (Power On Self Test) first. In effect
(and in very non-technical terms), the computer checks itself and its
components: yes, I'm a computer; my processor is X and it's working; I
have X video card and it's working; I have X amount of RAM and it's
working; I have X drives and they are working. This all happens very
fast and the final bit is when the instructions say: OK, according to my
boot order I should look for the files I need to boot an operating
system (OS) in these places (floppy drive, optical drives, hard drives,
PXE network drive) starting with X; OK there's nothing in the optical
drives so move to the next thing - yes, there are the boot files on hard
drive 0 so I'll hand control over to those files which will boot the OS.

So now the OS boots and all the drivers and processes it needs to get
you to where the user will log on have to run. How fast all of the above
happens depends on the physical components in your machine and the
structure of the OS. My XP boxen always were quicker to get to the
user's Desktop than my Linux machine (SUSE) but then you had to wait a
bit before everything loaded and things were usable because Microsoft
wrote the OS to do that, I suppose to give the illusion that it was
faster because people didn't like waiting as long as they did with
Win9x/ME. Once at the Desktop, SUSE was ready to go sooner than XP but
it didn't have antivirus programs and other stuff that needed to start.
My MacBook (running OS X first with Tiger and now with Leopard) handles
the same way as XP and Vista - once I have logged in it takes a few
seconds before I can get going while the programs I have running at
startup load.

So all of the above was meant to show you that this is the way computers
work and it doesn't matter whether the computer is running Vista, XP,
Linux, or OS X. Now, if your computer is taking 5 minutes or longer to
get to the Welcome Screen and 5 minutes or longer to usability after
login, something is wrong. Less than that and you've just got a normally
working computer and until the day comes when we are all jacked into The
Matrix, that's just The Way Computers Work.


Malke

 

[Dave Horne]

Yes, that was a better description of your problem and I see what you
mean. However your first post says that (paraphrased) you turn the
computer on and in less than a minute you are at the Welcome Screen and
then in less than another minute you are at your Desktop. I don't see how
this is abnormal or a problem. If the timing is really as you describe,
then nothing is wrong with your machine.

When you turn on a computer - any computer running any operating system -
it has to go through the POST (Power On Self Test) first. In effect (and
in very non-technical terms), the computer checks itself and its
components: yes, I'm a computer; my processor is X and it's working; I
have X video card and it's working; I have X amount of RAM and it's
working; I have X drives and they are working. This all happens very fast
and the final bit is when the instructions say: OK, according to my boot
order I should look for the files I need to boot an operating system (OS)
in these places (floppy drive, optical drives, hard drives, PXE network
drive) starting with X; OK there's nothing in the optical drives so move
to the next thing - yes, there are the boot files on hard drive 0 so I'll
hand control over to those files which will boot the OS.

So now the OS boots and all the drivers and processes it needs to get you
to where the user will log on have to run. How fast all of the above
happens depends on the physical components in your machine and the
structure of the OS. My XP boxen always were quicker to get to the user's
Desktop than my Linux machine (SUSE) but then you had to wait a bit before
everything loaded and things were usable because Microsoft wrote the OS to
do that, I suppose to give the illusion that it was faster because people
didn't like waiting as long as they did with Win9x/ME. Once at the
Desktop, SUSE was ready to go sooner than XP but it didn't have antivirus
programs and other stuff that needed to start. My MacBook (running OS X
first with Tiger and now with Leopard) handles the same way as XP and
Vista - once I have logged in it takes a few seconds before I can get
going while the programs I have running at startup load.

So all of the above was meant to show you that this is the way computers
work and it doesn't matter whether the computer is running Vista, XP,
Linux, or OS X. Now, if your computer is taking 5 minutes or longer to get
to the Welcome Screen and 5 minutes or longer to usability after login,
something is wrong. Less than that and you've just got a normally working
computer and until the day comes when we are all jacked into The Matrix,
that's just The Way Computers Work.

Malke, my situation is this, it takes about one minute for the password
prompt to appear. After I enter in my password it still will take another 3
minutes before everything is loaded. I can use my computer before that
additional three minutes is up but the hard drive is working most of that
time loading everything and I just patiently wait.

It would be great if all of 'this' could be done 'behind' the password
prompt and not after it. I do have a lot of stuff that loads - Task Manager
shows 100+ processes. Thanks, DH

 

[Malke]

Malke, my situation is this, it takes about one minute for the password
prompt to appear. After I enter in my password it still will take
another 3 minutes before everything is loaded. I can use my computer
before that additional three minutes is up but the hard drive is working
most of that time loading everything and I just patiently wait.

It would be great if all of 'this' could be done 'behind' the password
prompt and not after it. I do have a lot of stuff that loads - Task
Manager shows 100+ processes. Thanks, DH

OK, everything is normal on your machine although you've got more than
the usual processes running in the background. Three minutes is still
not very long, but you can shorten the time by controlling your startup
programs (as I discussed doing earlier in this thread) and if you are
using one of the bloated antivirus/security programs like
Norton/McAfee/SpySweeper uninstalling them and using something else.

Without knowing the specifics of what you've actually got running,
that's all I can really say. So go through what you have starting,
examine the programs you have installed - particularly AV/security
programs - look at any third-party automatically updating programs, and
control them. You can learn about what you see in Startup by Googling
the program/process name or post it in this thread and I'll help you.

You can't change the way computers work or the way the OS is written,
but you can change what is starting with Windows.


Malke

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"'this' could be done 'behind' the password prompt and not after it"
Not really practical.
Different users may start up with different programs running.
Those are not determined until you log in and the computer knows what
sets to start based on the user starting.

 

[Dave Horne]

I understand that. However, since I am the _only_ user, it would be great
if Vista would recognize that fact and continue to 'work' behind the scenes
as it were. Just a thought and a possible suggestion.

 

[Dave Horne]

I understand that. However, since I am the _only_ user, it would be great
if Vista would recognize that fact and continue to 'work' behind the scenes
as it were. Just a thought and a possible suggestion.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Another option is to set windows to log in automatically:
Start/Run
Type "control userpasswords2" ENTER
Uncheck "Users must enter..."
Click OK and follow prompts.
However anyone powering on the computer then has access.

 

[Dave Horne]

If I choose your suggestion, the computer would start up _without_ my
password, right?

Would the password setting for the Screen Saver kick in or not?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

If you do not want a screensaver password, you also need to leave the
appropriate box unchecked:
Right click somewhere on the Desktop and click Personalize.
Click Screen Saver.
Uncheck "On resume..."
Click OK.

 

[Dave Horne]

JJ, thank you for the information! Your suggestions were exactly what I
needed. Thanks!!!

DH

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Glad I was able to help.
Just remember, after you make those changes, anyone can power up the
computer with full access since no password is needed.

 

[Dave Horne]

JJ, I realize that. One quick way around that is to use a password on the
F2 \ initial Set up. I turn the computer on, wait 10 seconds for the Set Up
password prompt to appear and walk away from the computer to make my cup of
coffee. The screen saver, when it kicks in, is password protected.

I do have one more question, if you wouldn't have told about the 'control
userpasswords2' how would I have discovered that?

Thanks, DH

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Dave;
Search help for automatic logon is one way.
It is a common fix that it is easy to find where ever people
knowledgeable with Windows visit.

But like many things, it may be difficult to find without close to
correct search terminology or other assistance.

 

[Dave Horne]

Thanks, DH

Dave;
Search help for automatic logon is one way.
It is a common fix that it is easy to find where ever people knowledgeable
with Windows visit.

But like many things, it may be difficult to find without close to correct
search terminology or other assistance.