Resolved WIN 10 password protection

machine: Acer Aspire R13 laptop. WIN 10 upgrade
I've set up a OS password - on the machine, not using a windows account. After sign out and shut-down, opening the lid takes me right to the desktop without asking for a password. What good is a password if anybody can open the lid and have access to everything?

If instead of signing out, I let the computer go to sleep, it then asks for a password upon awakening - as if some unknown person will access the computer upon awakening from sleep. How stupid!

Is the reason for this is that microsoft is forcing me to use a MS account for sign-in in order to have password protection?
This must be a WIN 10 issue, coz when I signout on a WIN 7 machine, it always asks for a password to get back in.

 

Hi ihadnohorse, Welcome to WindowsBBS. I hope this is the answer you want.
In W10 Start > Settings > Accounts > Sign in options > your choice.
You can operate with a Local Account as well. Neil.

 

Not really stupid. Say you are at work running Windows and you leave your desk for a few seconds and it turns out to be minutes and you have some sensitive material on your screen and I walk by and see it. How would you feel then. When you buy a PC or an OS, MS doesn't know where it will be used at. I think that this is a great idea. But it can be stopped. Think that this has been an option since at least 98 or XP.

 

Nope. Under sign-in options there's "Require sign-in" and there's 2 choices:
1) When PC wakes up from sleep 2) Never
Since I'm the sole user of this computer, why would I want to require a password to sign in every time it goes to sleep? (every 15 min)
There's no option to require a password after sign-out or shutdown. How can the contents of my files be secure if my laptop is lost or stolen and all the thief has to do is open the lid of the laptop to gain access to everything without even having to guess a password?

 

You misunderstand my frustration. The machine asking for a password after going to sleep is not an issue. I can choose "NEVER" in sign-in options. But the machine NOT asking for a password after signing out and shutting down is stupid, unsafe, unprotected and without privacy.

 

Starting from Win8, Microsoft has changed the things quite a bit. When you select "Shut Down ", Windows writes the RAM contents onto hard disk & then switches off the computer. This is done so that when you power off next time, Windows has to read only one file & not hundreds thus making the booting faster.

If you want security, you have to encrypt the disk. Even if you have password on your system & Windows logon, its not good enough. Just boot from Linux & you have access to your data.

 

I think there is some misunderstanding as it appears folks are forgetting this a notebook and there are some settings/actions that are different with notebooks. In fact, they are not even visible to PC users.

I'm pretty sure I understand your complaint - though I don't know why this is happening.

That is called a "Local" account, not a "Microsoft" account - assuming you don't mean in the BIOS.

There is clearly something wrong here!

If you manually "sign out" of your user account, it does not matter what you do after that, or what any other setting is, you should absolutely always be prompted to sign back in with your password to get access to that user account. Period!

It definitely is not a design feature in Windows 10 (or any OS for that matter). And it is not bug or millions of notebook users would be reporting this. So some setting on your system is corrupt, or has been compromised.

Is W10 current and have you scanned for malware? If so, with what?

In your Power Options, look at "Choose what closing the lid does" (this option is not visible on PCs!). For "When I close the lid" make sure Sleep is set for both battery and plugged in options. Then make sure "Require a password" is set (this should be grayed out so it cannot be changed).

 

Thanks for the suggestions, Bill, but no dice. I changed the properties for the power button and the "when I close the lid" selections to :shutdown for both the battery and plugged in. (the default was already set at sleep, which is NOT what I'm trying to accomplish). There are NO options to require a password after signout. I left the "password protection on wake up" to require a password. I then signed out and shut down, closing the lid. I then opened the lid and the 1st screen was the blue welcome screen with my name, then it went straight to the desktop - NO password was asked for.
It seems strange that Microsoft is so concerned with asking for a password after sleep, but not after signing out. I guess the only solution is to never sign out - just put it to sleep. Not too good for saving the battery though.
The other choice I have is to choose the Microsoft account sign-in, rather than a local account, which MS probably figured was a good way to force that selection.

 

I've got a screenshot image of the power and sleep settings window that I'd like to upload, but I'm unable to locate any "albums and pictures" link in my user cp. If it's there, it's pretty well hidden.

 

The solution was very simple: I just changed the password and now it asks for the password every time.