Warning! Do NOT apply XP SP 3!

[phalzyr]

David: Microsoft has a program called TweakUI that is very handy. It can make your machine auto login again. It provides easy access to some hidden registry values that are very useful to tweak (And does so in a safe way)

I agree with you totally. Any user that installs a lot of crap can majorly slow down/unstabalize their machine. AS a tech I see this way too often. "My computer is so slow now..."

Unfortunately too many useful program do this, and some are even preloaded for you when you get a new PC. I tend to format and do a manual install whenever I get a new PC to get rid of Dell's/Gateway's/etc's advertise crap they install for you that can cause slower unstable machines.

If you are unfamilair with registry areas where program auto run from their are also useful tools to look at those area and check/uncheck them (Rather than just removing the registry line and being screwed if it was soemthing you needed).

[Suicide Junkie]

phalzyr said:
David: Microsoft has a program called TweakUI that is very handy. It can make your machine auto login again...

Uhm.

DG said:
...but even using Tweak UI to set the auto logon does not work.

[David E. Gervais]

a little FYI,..

I found the fix for the auto-login problem, it appears that XP has a way to do this. in the 'RUN..' command type "control userpasswords2" (without the quotes) a dialog comes up for "User Accounts" (not the same one as 'User Accounts' in the control panel) simply select the user from list, and 'uncheck the box' for "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer"

it then logs in bypassing the login password screen.

NOTE: This is not recommended for people who have multiple users who want to keep their info private or need different user settings and prefs. It works for me, I'm the only user of my comp, and I have no personnel info on my comp that can be stolen, or if stolen would have world shattering results.

Cheers!

[Captain Kwok]

This is also a wee bit off topic, but involves calling up Task Manager. I know you can access task manager via CTRL+ALT+DEL, but I recall reading about another key sequence that brings up task manager while skipping any of the extra dialog stuff (such as login info, or shutdown etc). Does anybody know what key combo does that?

[Fyron]

ctrl-shift-esc

[Azselendor]

one of my lesser computer literate friends installed service pack 3 today. About halfway through it he called me and asked "I'm installing SP3, is it safe?"

Reply: "Only if your computer doesn't end up as a boat anchor."

You could hear the horror in his silence.

Fortunately it installed just fine.

[Baron Grazic]

I justed wanted to post that I've been running SP3 now for a week, without any problems what so ever.
Only warning is that SP3 re-enables the Windows Firewall even if you had it disabled, which can be a "got you" if running other Firewall software.
Baron Grazic

[douglas]

Looking at the "security expert's blog" capnq posted, that sounds suspiciously similar to the second problem addressed in the blog post. The suggested fix is very simple:

The solution is simplicity itself: insert a USB flash drive, or some other form of secondary storage mechanism, before booting the computer. The people have that have seen this problem report that it goes away when they do. The catch is that the computer will only boot with a secondary drive attached. If you remove the secondary drive it will no longer boot.

It also appears that this could be related to using a USB mouse. If you have a USB mouse, try moving it to the PS/2 port instead (the little round port, you should have received an adapter with your mouse). That seems to resolve the problem without the use of an external USB flash drive.