Control User Logins By Hacking The Registry

Posted by tech master  |  at  1:33 PM No comments

To control logon options, run the Registry Editor [Hack #83] and go to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Winlogon subkey, which contains a variety of logon settings (as well as some settings
not having to do directly with logons). Following are the most important values you
can edit to customize logons.

DontDisplayLastUserName
This setting lets you control how the system logon dialog box is used. If this String
value is present and set to 1, all users will have to enter both their username and
password to log on. If the value is 0, the name of the last user to log on will be
displayed in the system logon dialog box.

DefaultUserName
This String value contains the name of the last user who logged on. It will be
displayed only if the DontDisplayLastUserName value is not present or is set to 0.
LegalNoticeCaption and LegalNoticeText// Already discussed

PasswordExpiryWarning
This DWORD value lets you display a warning message to users a certain number of
days before their passwords are set to expire. It lets you determine how many days
ahead of time the warning should be issued. To edit the value, click the decimal
button and enter the number of days.

ShutdownWithoutLogon
This String value enables or disables a button on the XP logon dialog box that lets the
system shut down. A value of 1 enables the button (so that it is shown); a value of 0
disables the button (so that it is not shown).

bIt determines the shellthe user interfacethat will be used by XP. The default is
Explorer.exe, but it can be another shell as wellfor example, the Program Manager
from older Windows versions. Type in the name of the program; for example,
Progman.exe for the Program Manager, or Taskman.exe for the Task Manager.

AutoRestartShell
This DWORD value doesn't have to do with logons either, but it's another good one to
know. It sets whether to automatically restart the Windows shell if the shell crashes. A
value of 1 automatically restarts the shell. A value of 0 tells XP not to restart the shell,
forcing you to log off and then back on again to restart it.