Vista – Auto Logon

If you’d like to automatically logon to your account in Vista, here’s how to do it. At the Search box, type
control userpasswords2 and press Enter.
The User Accounts screen will appear.
Highlight the account that you want to automatically log on with, then uncheck the box next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. Click OK. The Automatically Log On dialog box appears. Type in the password for the account that you want to log on automatically. Click OK.
From now on, you’ll automatically log in using that account. To get to another account, Click the Start button, click the arrow in the lower-right corner of the Start menu, and select Switch User and follow the prompts.

Vista – Not Too Safe

A friend recently brought over a VISTA computer that was unusable because they had forgotten the password for the startup logon. Within 5 minutes a found a Linux ISO file which allowed me to boot from a CD and remove the Administrators password.What I also learned in the process was that, VISTA is not that safe if you’re trying to hide your data.

I also learned that by adding this command in the Search bar:
Net user administrator /active:yes
You can activate and show the Administrators logon when Windows starts. This is also nice since the  administrator doesn’t have the annoying UAC popup screens. Note – this account doesn’t have a password initially, so make sure you assign a password to this account.

You can hide the Administrator logon by using the command:
Net user administrator /active:no

I like to have at least two Administrator accounts so that if I have a problem with one, I can still logon and make changes.