Log on to Windows 7 Automatically

It used to be a pretty complicated task to configure auto-logon in Windows XP.  It takes some tinkling to the Windows Registry data (see here.)  However, Windows 7 has changed that.  Now you can set up a default user to log into Windows automatically through some dialog boxes.  And the password is not stored as plain text in the registry anymore.  Two ways to bring up the User Accounts dialog box:

• Type "netplwiz" in the Start menu search box (Run window) and hit Enter.
• Type "control userpassword2" in the Start menu search box (Run window) and hit Enter.

For detail instructions on how to do this, check out this article on www.howtogeek.com.

Unfortunately, you can't access this dialog box through the Control Panel; I think Microsoft intentionally omitted it.  But you can add it back into the Control Panel by modifying the following Registry keys:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}] 
@="Advanced User Accounts" "InfoTip"="Starts the \"Control Userpasswords2\" Admin Screen" "System.ControlPanel.Category"="9" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\DefaultIcon] 
@="%SystemRoot%\\System32\\netplwiz.exe" 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell\Open] 

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}\Shell\Open\command] 
@="Control Userpasswords2" 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{98641F47-8C25-4936-BEE4-C2CE1298969D}] 
@="Add Advanced User Accounts to Control Panel"