I really like this tip. It makes it so that you have instant access to everything after sign-in, rather than waiting for the computer to boot-up, signing-in, and then waiting again until the desktop loads. It's nice if you'd like to just turn on the computer, do a thing perhaps somewhere else, and then be able to start using it when you get back by entering your password as usual, only with your desktop already loaded. I thought I totally ripped off the idea from somewhere else, but I think I might have just combined a couple ideas i saw elsewhere:
1.Click Start, and then click Run.
2.In the Open box, type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.
3.Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box, and then click Apply.
4.In the Automatically Log On window, type the password in the Password box, and then retype the password in the Confirm Password box.
5.Click OK to close the Automatically Log On window, and then click OK to close the User Accounts window.
6. Go to Run again
7. In the Open box type or copy and paste the following: schtasks /create /tn LockPC /tr "rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation" /sc onlogon
8. Click OK and enter your password in the upcoming window as prompted
What's going on here: You're setting up Windows to automatically log you into your user account, so your desktop will start to load automatically after startup. However, as soon as you're automatically logged in, your computer is locked so your computer cannot be used until your password is entered. Your desktop continues to load in the background after the PC is locked. The LockPC task you made in step 7 is available for you to modify it if you like in Scheduled Tasks in the Control Panel.
Resources for this last tip:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/schtasks.mspx?mfr=true
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/learnmore/tips/schnoll1.mspx
