I typed msconfg and after having a look at my start up programmes I exited without making any changes. However a message then appeared saying to save changes restart computer. I had not made any changes and now my log on photo has gone and my computer now goes straight into windows. Not a problem I suppose since only myself use the computer. I have started in safe mode and done a system restore to no avail. Is there a way to get my logon picture back?

I think under CONTROL PANEL, then USER ACCOUNTS, there are options to change the way you logon...

If BeardedKirklander's suggestion doesn't work, try Tweak at PowerToys.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...powertoys.mspx

No luck with either. However it is not a serious problem. Some folks prefer it this way. On checking the event viewer\security there are a number of strange logons going on. When I clicked on one of them it referred to an exception when windows firewall is started. The program it refers is utorrents which was deleted a long time ago and now apparantly has a port access. I cannot find anything on my computer referring to utorrent. The path it says is C:\ProgramFiles\uTorrent\utorrent.exe

You can get your logon screen back if you enter a password for your user account. If you leave the password blank and there's no other users, the logon screen will not be shown.

So if you activated your GUEST account you would be fine, right?

I think so, yes. But if it's only to click on your picture, without a password, it isn't very useful to have the logon screen on a single user PC (for me at least).

OK here's the deal as they say and many thanks everyone for your help. When this problem first occured I was able to activate the guest account and yes both pictures appeared on start up. However as I was the only one who used the computer then I didn't bother and just let it start up without any pictures. Now when I activate the guest account it still goes straight into start up without any pictures to click on. If I set a password then yes I get my picture back with the password to be confirmed. I think I will just let it start up and not worry about it. The trouble is that I did not change anything. All I did was click on Run and typed msconfg had a look around and then exited. It asked me to click to save changes and that's where the problem came from.

Under User acounts, then Change the way users logon and off, I think you can enable/disable fast user switching, and also there is a checkbox to "Use the Welcome screen". You may want to tinker around in there...

Personally, I like having it boot straight into the OS. One of the things I did not like about Win 98 SE was that without a powertoy, you had to confirm the logon, which for a home account is inconvenient.

BUT, I do understand that sometimes you just want to be able to know how to do something, or sometimes just want things a certain way "just because" so I hope you can figure it out.

cheers everyone.