Login screen - password autofocus question

[tcyiu]

I have been using Win7 for a couple of months now. With the exception of Explorer, I have been generally very happy with the OS.

Just today, something strange happened with my screen saver login screen. I searched for a while, but was not able to find anything - quite possibly because I was not using the right search terms.

Up until now, whenever I come back to my PC after a while, the login screen would show and I can type in my password immediately and log in. I am the only user on this PC. The only other account is administrator.

Starting today, for some reason, I now have to use the mouse to click on the password entry box BEFORE I type for the password to register. If I do not click on the box, the cursor in the box blinks like it has focus, but my typing is not registered.

In the overall scheme of things, this is not a big deal. But I am curious why this happened and how it might be reverted back to the way it was before.

Back in the days of XP, this happened to me AFTER I installed .NET. Apparently .NET installation creates a phantom user account. In which case, I have to select my account to login. The fix for the XP situation was to delete the .NET account. As mentioned before, I am the only user on this Windows 7 PC. Looking in Users and Accounts, I do not see any phantom users.

I have just run a scan with AVG Free which reported no problems.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[richc46]

Use a simple system restore and you will be good to go. Sounds like small corruption. Make a thorough antivirus scan plus a malwarebytes scan. If negative forget about it.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

 

[tcyiu]

Thanks. The system restore did the trick. Still can't figure out why this happened.

 

[richc46]

When you boot, shut down, or make changes. A small power fluctuation, etc can cause corruption.

 

[echotrain]

This happened to me when I installed the driver for a USB Display Device (Trigger Family) for use of a second monitor with my laptop. When I uninstalled the driver, the problem went away. I ultimately decided the second monitor was worth the bother, so I re-installed the driver.

Then, I discovered that when I hit Alt-Tab when the screen is locked, focus is given to the password box. Since I am about to type the password anyway, it just amounts to a couple of extra keystrokes and I don't have to reach for the mouse first.