normanml
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Can;t stop screen saver going to Logon screen
I'm setting up a new PC WIN7/64Pro. I've set it up to bypass the login screen and go right to the desktop. It only has one profile, admin. But apparently the system must think I have another profile because when I hit any key to return from the screen saver, set to 5 minutes, it gives me the login screen with just the one user profile. Yes, I unchecked the "on resume, display logon screen." I'm guessing there's some registry setting that's telling the system there are two user profiles when there is only one. How do I fix this? Thanks. PS: I do not use a password.
I have my system automatically logon but I don't use a screensaver, I set it to none and have the monitor turn off after a period of time. Works a treat!
I set my own monitor to NONE and do not use a screensaver. But I did and it worked properly.
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This is the very best example of how a PC should NEVER be setup or used.
1. Always use passwords.
2. Always set up standard user accounts, and ONLY use those accounts for day to day use, whether you are the owner of the PC AND it's Admin AND the only user or not. It is still easy enough to do tasks needing admin rights, as then UAC will show up where you can enter the admin's password for that task.
If you don't follow those very simple rules, you make it very, very easy for hackers to get access to your system, or malware to do take over and do it's tasks, or even for you to misconfigure something by mistake, breaking your installation.
1. Always use passwords.
2. Always set up standard user accounts, and ONLY use those accounts for day to day use, whether you are the owner of the PC AND it's Admin AND the only user or not. It is still easy enough to do tasks needing admin rights, as then UAC will show up where you can enter the admin's password for that task.
If you don't follow those very simple rules, you make it very, very easy for hackers to get access to your system, or malware to do take over and do it's tasks, or even for you to misconfigure something by mistake, breaking your installation.
ASKER
Okay, you've all convinced me to create a new user account, not use owner/admin as my logon account, and to use a password. If I create that new user account now and set it as the logon account, do I have to reset all the system settings I've been tweaking logging on as owner/administrator? And what will that do to all the permissions in files and folders. Will the new user profile automatically be added to them. I tried to delete a folder that was locked the other day and had to change permissions (Everyone) to do it. That's just one example. Thanks for the advice. These same questions would be true of the second win7 machine I've been using for two years as owner/admin. If I add a password protected user profile to that machine, again, will the system settings stay the same. Thanks for these basic lessons. I tried to take the easy way. A mistake. I've also read where passwords make file sharing much easier.
Is it working after adding a password to the account?
ASKER
Actually, the answer was in front of me all the time. In the screen saver dialog I happened to notice under the choice for "blank," a choice called "Ultramon," which is a screen utility I use to run multiple monitors. When I chose Ultrmon, the preview showed a blank screen. Ultramon apparently controls a number of display functions. At all events, I selected that and applied it, and the screen blank has been working and not throwing up a logon screen when you bring the screen back. The behavior is different from my first WIN& machine with Ultramon, but the first machine has a different video card, so I'm sure that was having an effect too. Meanwhile, I called MS. I have year service contract with them from another issue. Had a long tech with a very savy tech. He said a lot of users who have machines with only one user, do not set up standard user account but do what I do -- just use the "administrator-user" account. I asked what happens if it become corrupted for some reason. He pointed to some remedies in the registry. I am adding a password to both WIN7 machines on the admin-user accounts because I've been reading that it make file sharing much easier. Thanks to all for the many suggestions. I appreciate your various diagnoses.
Good to see that you have made positive progress. :)
You should still go for a standard user account for normal day-to-day use. In Windows 7 you can use "Windows Easy Transfer" to save a user's profile, so it can be imported into another user's profile. This works pretty well and most settings are taken over from the original account you have set up so it suits you best. Then when you have imported that into your new account, do any fine-tuning you may still need, and when done, change it to a standard account.
When you delete an account, you do that while logged on to a different account from the one you want to delete, and do that via the control panel, User Accounts. There, when you select to delete an account, it asks you whether also all the files and data of that user should be deleted, if you say yes there everything will be deleted that was in that user's profile, including all files and directories. There should be no locked files left over.
There is also a public folder in the Users directory. This public folder is meant to store data that should be accessible to all users. If you save your files there, they will be automatically available to all the standard and Administrative users on the PC. I always save most of my data there, as most of my data isn't only for one user account.
When you delete an account, you do that while logged on to a different account from the one you want to delete, and do that via the control panel, User Accounts. There, when you select to delete an account, it asks you whether also all the files and data of that user should be deleted, if you say yes there everything will be deleted that was in that user's profile, including all files and directories. There should be no locked files left over.
There is also a public folder in the Users directory. This public folder is meant to store data that should be accessible to all users. If you save your files there, they will be automatically available to all the standard and Administrative users on the PC. I always save most of my data there, as most of my data isn't only for one user account.
So then the one user Is you and you are a member of the administrators group. Correct?
You can also look in Advanced Systems Settings, Advanced tab and click on the Profiles button. How many profiles are there?
I think maybe you have somehow messed up userids.