annoyance after xp upgrade

After I made a couple of automatic upgrades on my windows xp, a couple of annoying changes have happened.

First is when I restart my computer it prompts for my user name and password before windows loads. How can I undo it so it automatically logs me in to a default user name.

Second is when I press control alt delete, I get this windows security menu that comes up instead of taking me directly to the task manager. How can I make it go directly to the task manager like it use to.

 

You can right click in the taskbar and bring up the Task Mgr directly. There must be something goofy about my comp, because control alt delete does nothing at all, never has, even after a dozen installs...

TweakUI (M$ Powertoys) has a setting to get rid of the log on screen. You can change the way users log on from the User Accounts in the Control Panel, too.

HTH
Johanna

 

when I press control alt delete, I get this windows security menu that comes up instead of taking me directly to the task manager

This is normal XP behavior. Also normal NT4/2K.

The easiest way I can think of to start Taskmanager is start~run~taskmgr or just put up with the extra click on TaskManager after a CAD.

 

Hmmm. Wonder what we've stumbled onto here. Ctrl>alt>delete has always brought up the taskmanager on mine. Right from day one. Johanna's doesn't do anything, drecollet's used to bring up taskmanager. Don't get me wrong here Newt. I'm not saying you're wrong. Just wondering what's going on here. I won't lose any sleep over it though.

 

If you don't want to right click on the taskbar for the task mgr you could make a shortcut and drag it to a toolbar for a one click access. I'm not in the task mgr much- why do you have to be, just out of curiosity?

Zander, just for kicks, I opened up a bunch of different software and even tried the plain desktop, and control alt delete does absolutely nothing, anywhere. As long as I can remember, it never has, and I have always right clicked on the task bar for task mgr. I always assumed it was just an XP thing. Learn something new every day!

Johanna
I wonder if it's because I have one of the first XP Pro disks?

 

Don't know. Mine would probably be considered to be a newer one. Got it in March of this year. It included service pack 1. I wouldn't think there'd be any difference between running sp1 installed with the xp cd or running the downloaded version. Probably just an indicator that even after all these years, MS hasn't quite got all the bugs out of all those ones and zeros.

 

I'm on pre-sp1 XP Home updated to sp1 and ctl+alt+del has always brought up the task mngr for me also. I was under the assumption all the windows systems did that. Is it maybe one more of the differences between Home and Pro?

 

All you guys with security dialogs popup when press control~alt~delete - do you have passwords on your accounts?

Does control~shift~esc do the same thing?

With only one user account and no password would, I think, automatically log on to the account.

With more than one account there is a setting for auto logon, but I forget how. I don't use it now.

Also, I am using the XP Welcome Screen, not the classic logon prompt - maybe this would make the diff in CAD.

 

Control-shift-escape does nothing, either. (Control-Esc gives me a start button and taskbar, though!) My XP Pro cd is from Jan 02, and no SPs on it. There is one user account (Me) and I use the Welcome screen and a password. I even tried the other Alt key- nothing. LOL I honestly thought they did away with C-A-D in XP!

Johanna

 

Mine:

xp pro
I'm the only user
using welcome sreen
no password
ctrl>shift>escape brings up taskmanager

Edit:
Thanks Arie. Learn something new everyday, although this doesn't really explain why Johanna's does nothing.

Johanna, now you've got something to drive you nuts for a while. Seems like you're the lone ranger here.

 

I shut off "fast user switching" because I'm the only user anyway, tried C-A-D, nothing. So I toggled the "Use Welcome Screen" and voila- now it works! All I did was shut it off and turn it back on. LOL Thanks guys! At least this one didn't drive me crazy for too long!

Johanna

 

Thanks for the tip about right clicking on the taskbar to get the taskmanager. But my next question is, what if you have a bunch of programs running and cant see the task bar, how do you open the task manager then.

The reason I don't like going through the security menu first is become it temporarily freezes all the computers actions while that screen is up until the task manager window is back.

Secondly, I see how you can switch between the welcome screen and the classic screen,

However, I am running XP home edition and when I got it a year ago up until about a month ago, I never had to log on to a user, it automatically logged me on as I am the only user, is there anyway I can return to that?

 

Very simple to fix.

Raise the bottom of the window up a bit off of the bottom. Then set the properties of the Taskbar to Auto Hide and Keep the Taskbar on top of all other Windows.

Then all you need to do is slide the mouse down and the Taskbar should appear. And then disappear when you slide the mouse back up.

BTW. The above works in all versions of 98 and XP.

BillyBob

 

Alternate fix - press the Windows key (critter between Ctrl & Alt with the flag symbol) to bring up the start menu then select Run and type in Taskmgr.

Arie - thank a bunch for that save. I had no idea the logon preference would make that sort of change.

 

Arie,

Is that the way to remove windows security when pressing CAD?

lee

 

Yea it is, I just tried it, made the changes in the control panel and now when I press CAD, the task manager pops up....WOOO HOOO

 

Second problem solved as well!!!! After I changed from the classic log on to the welcome log on screen, it no longer asks me for my password, one of the updates must have changed it to classic logon for some reason. I think because I only have one user set up, it automatically logs me on and goes straight to windows.

I love days like today when everything works out.

 

drecollet wrote:

• "...what if you have a bunch of programs running and cant see the task bar, how do you open the task manager then. "

You can always add a shortcut to your Desktop or Start menu. Type %systemroot%\system32\taskmgr.exe in the target window of the shortcut's properties. (You can also use c:\windows in place of %systemroot%.)