Automatically starting Vista into an account?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
Not having passwords could allow rogue processes to gain elevated
privileges or at a minimum allow a remote user to logon or access shares.
Click to expand...

Automatic Login doesn't get rid of the password. It just logs the computer
in automatically when it boots. The password is still there.
There is no need for a standard account to install programs. You logon as
an administrator when you want to install something.
Click to expand...

That is why now in Vista, administrative accounts run in standard-user mode
until something needs to be elevated, and then only the authorized process
has administrative privledges.

- JB
 
If you use a standard user rather than an administrator user the UAC prompts
are actually less intrusive.
 
All this tech talk is silly. Pretty slim chances that 1) your PC will get
stolen and 2) you have anything on it that that particular thief wants
because 3) if you have credit info on your PC you would undoubtedbly cancel
it and 4) who cares about your email, really? plus 5) there are absolutely a
ton of tools and procedures available on the web, both legal and otherwise,
for replacing the Admin password.
 
If you're a "small" business (or a big one) you may have -- sensitive
documents on your computer. Let's say you're a software developer, for
example, and you keep the source code you're developing on your computer.
That source code to you is worth a lot, both in TIME and MONEY. If you've
been building this software with the intention of selling and profiting from
it a little, forget about it if someone steals/breaks into your computer.
Or, let's say you're a lawyer or a doctor, and you have sensitive files from
your customers that legally are required to be kept private. Well, guess
what, if your computer is insecure, forget about it. This is an information
economy, information is time and money, there are people who want to steal
the information you have on your computer. No matter who you are. That
information may be worth more than you think (think social security numbers,
sounds like an 'inconvenience' if it gets stolen, but it's a lot worse than
that).

There are many many new viruses and spyware introduced every year, otherwise
companies like McAfee, PC-Cillin, Computer Associates, Symantec and now even
Microsoft (with Live! One Care) wouldn't be able to profit by releasing new
versions/upgrades of the spyware/virus scanners every year (and in many
cases, releasing patches with new virus/spyware definitions more than once a
day). Somebody is making that stuff for a reason, and it's not simply
academic curiosity in every case.

-Rob

<DIV>&quot;Miker&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote in
 
... oh and I almost forgot -- If your computer is insecure, someone can
remotely get into your computer and use YOUR computer to hack into someone
else's computer -- possibly leaving you liable because the source of the
hacking will trace back to your computer, and all the evidence will be on
your computer because that's where the hacking was done.

-Rob

<DIV>&quot;Rob Wilkens&quot; &lt;[email protected]&gt; wrote in message
 
Dear Jimmy,

Well, it looks like the control userpasswords2 method of bypassing the user
account screen has been completely disabled in Release Candidate 2. Even when
the checkbox is cleared, the user screen still intervenes before startup.

Microsoft strikes back, again.
 
After upgrading from the puclic beta to RC1 I have noticed that I can't logon
automatically either - has anyone found a way to do this?

It's not the end of the world, but I was wondering.
 
Aha, I see. I even checked the Winlogon section of the registry to see if it
could be done manually there, but sadly none of the values used in XP like
DefaultUserName, AutoAdminLogon, etc. were there.

But now you've explained why! I'll just wait patiently.

Thanks for the reply.
 
Back
Top