Get loged out over night

DaRealMcCloud · 21 Mar 2012

Hello,

I am stuck with a problem for quite a while now, maybe anyone here got another idea.

Almost every morning when I return to my computer I find my user logged out of windows on the "logon screen".

I do have the option "On resume, display logon screen" set and I don't want to change it for security reasons, it works fine for short times.( screensaver turns on, I move the mouse, I am back on the "logon screen" but still loged on). But it appears that if windows is left idle for too long on the screensaver it not only returns to the "logon screen" but also logs me off, which is very annoying.

I can rule out that the computer crashes over night and reboots from the system up time.

Maybe there is a security policy setting or something that I am missing?

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate
4GB RAM, Dual-Core 2.66Ghz
Gigabyte mb, HD6870,
power settings on high performance.
(never hibernate or sleep)

Help would be much appreciated.

DaRealMcCloud · 21 Mar 2012

I am running acronis on my machine for nightly backups, saving the desktop theme seams to make it better but doesn't eliminate the problem completely.

gregrocker · 21 Mar 2012

Try turning off the Screensaver which isn't needed with modern monitors.

You can instead use an Aero slideshow which comes with one of the Aero Themes by rightclicking on Desktop>Personalize.

AddRAM · 21 Mar 2012

Sounds like an absolutely normal behavior to me, I mean for that amount of time. There has to be a setting somewhere. Has this ever even been brought up here yet ?

DaRealMcCloud · 22 Mar 2012

How is this normal behavior? It closes all programs which where still open and logs me out, this makes it very hard to have something running reliable over night.

I am only using the screensaver (with login screen) so that my kids don't accidentally mess with my work when I am not watching.

gregrocker · 22 Mar 2012

It's true that if you don't have Sleep or Hibernate set then your computer should not shut down overnight unless someone is accessing it using your password and doing this.

If not then I would check Scheduled Tasks to see that nothing is set which would do this: Type Task Scheduler in Start Search box, click result, on right pane select View Scheduled Tasks, examine each carefully.

Another option is to set your Sleep/Hibernate options, perhaps put a Hibernate shortcut on your desktop. Hibernate Shortcut - Create

You can walk away from the machine knowing that your work will be kept in place and password prompted after both sleep and Hibernate, and that the machine will start up much faster from Hibernate. I would use Hybrid sleep so even while it is sleeping (written to RAM) it also has written to HD in case of a power failure.

DavidE · 22 Mar 2012

fwiw:
Some programs do what they want no matter what the "Windows configuration" is.
I have an HTPC and learned this the hard way.
Some programs don't use task scheduler, but may have their own built in scheduler for whatever reason...
Look at what programs you have running to make sure those programs are not the cause.

gregrocker · 22 Mar 2012

For the reason David gives you can establish a Clean Boot: Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

DaRealMcCloud · 22 Mar 2012

My Computer is not re-booting over night, I can see that from the event view and the system up-time. It just logs me out.
I dont have any Scheduled tasks and the only other program with control over the system would be Acronis which isn't scheduled to do anything atm since I am re-organizing all our backups atm.

I also don't want my computer to sleep or hibernate over night since there are applications running which should be accessible at all time. (ftp server for example)

I will try to make a clean boot and see if the problem still exists.

gregrocker · 22 Mar 2012

Acronis has two Services running which I don't like and keep turned off. In fact I only use Acronis now for imaging so try to use it's boot disk or only install it to get the image.