Hacking the Windows Vista Login

September 1, 2008

The most interesting feature of Windows Vista aside from its cool graphic and interface is its security. It is the major selling point for Windows Vista, even though that some of its best security features are turned off by default. In Vista you can optimize some of the security features, do some tweaks and tricks in some seemingly invariable interfaces so as to provide convenience and greater security.

Here are some cool tweaks and trick that I found in PC Mag that that take effect before the Windows Vista OS even boot.

Login Automatically

This keeps your password intact yet skip the Welcome screen and have Vista log you in automatically each time you startup Windows, enter the User Accounts window – but not in the Control Panel

Here’s how you do it:

1. To access the first two advanced User Accounts Tools in Vista, open the Start menu and in the search box type controluserpassword2 and hit Enter.

2. Select your username from the list, turn off the Users must enter a username and password to user this computer option, and then click OK.

3. When prompted, enter your password twice and click OK.

4. Open the Power Options window in Control Panel.

5. Click Change plan settings under the currently selected plans.

6. Then, click Change advanced power setting on the next page.

7. Under the Additional Settings branch, set the Require a Password in wakeup option to NO and click OK.

8. The last step is to jump to the Personalization page in the Control Panel and then click Screen Saver, turn-off the On resume, display logon screen option and click OK.

With all these options disabled, you’ll get to your desktop more quickly and with less typing.

Hide List of User On Logon Screen

By default, Vista shows a list of all the user accounts on your PC to anyone using your computer, but you can hide it with a quick hack.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Open the Start menu and in the Search (Run) box type secpol.msc and press Enter to open the Local Security Policy Editor.

2. On the left, expand the branches to Local Policies\Security Options.

3. Then, on the right, double-click the Interactive Logon: Do not display last username option.

4. Select Enabled and click OK.

For Vista Home Basic/Premium Edition (Which do not have secpol.msc)

1. Open Registry Editor (type Regedit on Run Command).

2. Expand the branches to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system.

3. Double-click the DontDisplayLastUsername value in the right hand pane and type 1 into the data field.

4. If the value is not there, right-click on the empty area of the right pane, Select New and then DWORD (32-bit) value, and the type DontDisplayLastUsername for the name of the new value.

The changes takes effect right away, the next time you log out or boot your PC, you’ll need to type both your username and password to login. But user with administrator level can still see the list of users in User Account in Control Panel.

Important Reminder: Back-up your Registry before making any changes unto it!