Options for auto login missing in Windows 8.1

I have hooked up my computer to my TV in the living room and set up Windows to auto log in at start up.  However, today this failed.  I know Windows can be forgetful at time.  No problem, a trip to "netplwiz" will fix it, won't it?


Well, it isn't quite as easy as it turned out.  It seems a recent update had done something to the security policies that made the option for auto login disappear.  A quick search in Google shows that this option can be restore by resetting the security policy as follow:

1. Press Windows-X to bring up the menu
2. Select Control Panel
3. Click User Accounts and Family Safety
4. Click User Accounts
5. If your security policies are non-standard you will see a link "Reset Security Policies" at the bottom of the left column. If the security policies are default you will not see this link. Click Reset Security Policies
6. You will see a confirmation box.
7. Press Windows-R
8. Type control userpasswords2
9. The check box should be there, uncheck the box and select your login information
10. Note that it now defaults to your local account - if you login with a Microsoft account don't forget to enter that email address in the user name.

Since I don't have custom local policies, this fix does me no harm.  However, if you have done some customizations to your local policies, you may look for a more precise solution.

Setting Environment as normal user

Just a note to myself, to edit the environment variables for a standard use, I need to type "environment" into the start menu, and use the "Edit environment variables for your account" option.

Samba and Windows 7 Share

Lately I have problems to get my Linux machines to access a shared folder on my Windows 7 system. Today, I finally found the cause of the problems (with the correct magic keywords on Google), Windows Live essentials (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=84578). As suggested in the forum once I have removed it, everything works fine as before.

Windows MCE

There is one program that I really like from Microsoft and that is the Media Center. I have been using it since the XP version. For the most part, the XP version is working great after all these years. However, in few areas XP starts to show its ages, and that is in new hardware support and handling.

I have recently got an ATi 4550 card to replace my trouble 8600GT card. This card has HDMI output which should save me from have two cables for carrying video and audio separately. Despite all my attempts, I couldn't get the sound to work as XP would not recognize the HDMI as an output. Since my brother has a similar setup and the sound work well under Windows 7, so I decided to upgrade my XP to Windows 7.

Presto, sound works as it should be plus now I can use my MCE remote to change channels that have successive numbers, e.g. 112. I have this problem for a long time and finally Microsoft has fixed it!!

Windows 7 and ULi Chipset

When I try to install Windows 7 on my Acer computer which uses ULi chipset, I got no hard drive. It seems Windows 7 does not carry ULi drive, and requires to load ULi drivers manually. After some search on Google, I manage to find the driver at

http://www.4shared.com/file/i1fDjHnr/ULI1575_RAID_F6.html

You simply extract the driver from the archive file and put the extracted file onto an USB pen drive. Load the driver from the USb drive prepared when you reach the empty drive screen. Hope this helps others in a similar situation.

Clear temporary Windows Update installers

If you have problem to update Windows, e.g. it gives you 80072EFE error, it may be worthwhile to clear the Update Installers in your system and restart again. The instructions can be found at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822798

Especially method 10 which tell you how to empty the software distribution folder.

After you clear the "cached" installers, you may want to restart you system before re-try the update services.

AutoMKV

I do a bit video conversion every now and then, and the tool I am using for the job is AutoMKV which is almost idiot proof. However, I always have trouble to run it under Windows Vista/7. Today, I come across a post in a forum said that it may be due to missing .NET Framework 1.1 installed. I will give it another try later and see if this fix my problem.

Open commend prompt at the current directory

In Windows XP, there is powertoy which lets you to open a command prompt window at the selected directory. However, there is none for Windows 7. After a bit of searching, it seems this is now an in built feature of Windows 7. You can simply open a command prompt at a selected directory by SHIFT+right click. This would bring up a more advanced pop-up menu which has the Open Command Window Here option.