Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Setting Up the Logon Process

On a Windows XP computer in a workgroup, the dialog box that greets you when you turn on the PC (or when you relinquish your turn at the PC by choosing Start→ Log Off) looks something like Figure 17-14. But a few extra controls let you, an administrator, set up the logon screen for either more or less security—or, put another way, less or more convenience.

Open the User Accounts program in the Control Panel, and then click “Change the way users log on or off.” As shown in Figure 17-12, Windows XP now offers you two extremely important logon options.

Use the Welcome Screen

Under normal circumstances, the logon screen presents a list of account holders when the PC is first turned on, as shown in Figure 17-14.

If you’re worried about security, however, you might not even want that list to appear. If you turn off “Use the Welcome screen,” each person who signs in must type both his name and password into blank boxes—a very inconvenient, but secure, arrangement (Figure 17-13). (You can’t turn off “Use the Welcome screen” if Fast User Switching is turned on, as described in the next section.)

Tip

Even when you’re looking at the standard, friendly Welcome screen (Figure 17-14), you can switch to the older, Classic logon screen: just press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. (If you’re having trouble making it work, try pressing down the Alt key before the other ones.)

You may be used to using the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keystroke for summoning the Task Manager, as described in Section ...