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Malice4you

Windows 10, Screen Saver, and CTRL ALT DEL

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I have recently updated (clean install) to Windows 10 Pro from 7.  This PC is a desktop without a touchscreen, is not on a domain, the user account is a full administrator account, not the default limited "administrator" account, and the user account is a local account. 

On at least Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, and Server 2008, when users are required to enter CTRL ALT DEL to log in/unlock, and a screensaver is active when trying to unlock the PC, pressing CTRL ALT DEL will immediately deactivate the screensaver and bring up the password prompt. 

On Windows 10, same scenario, pressing CTRL ALT DEL only deactivates the screensaver, acting like simply any other key press and only showing the lock screen, forcing users to press CTRL ALT DEL a second time to get the password prompt.

Besides the fact that Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, constantly "improves" "features" by making them worse or more annoying, am I missing something?  I just want CTRL ALT DEL to work as it has for the last 20 years - pressing any key should instantly deactivate the screensaver, and CTRL ALT DEL should immediately bring up the password prompt on a locked PC. 

Netplwiz > Require users to press CTRL ALT DEL - checked

GPEdit > Do not display the lock screen - Enabled or disabled has had no effect, have not found any other relevant settings

Screen Saver Settings - On Resume, display login screen - checked (no difference if unchecked)

Don't think I've done anything in regedit that would have any effect on this.

Settings>Personalization>Lock Screen > Show lock screen  background picture on the sign-in screen set to "off"

It is possible I've missed or messed with something in "Settings" somewhere, but nothing stands out in my memory.

 

So is this just a new "feature" I have to retrain 20 years worth of habits, or is there some stupid setting I am missing?  Google has been utterly useless so far.

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Windows changed a while ago so that Ctrl-alt-delete isn’t required to bring up the unlock screen. It used to be special and handled in the hardware to avoid someone spoofing the login screen.  
 

I’m not too familiar with vanilla windows as my machine is corporateized.  In my machine pressing any key or clicking the mouse brings up the password prompt. No double-key press required.  
 

 

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I just hit any key to bring up the password prompt on my personal laptop running 10.

But about 2 months ago, the password stopped being recognized.  The restore option didn't work correctly.  I ended up having to pay the tech guys at Staples $125 to wipe it and reinstall the OS.  Luckily I had backups of my important docs on an external drive I had laying around, but all the apps were wiped.  I miss using NT for so many years.  That thing ws blletproof and I could easily get into the BIOS settings to manage the admin side.  Windows 10 sucks.  Plus the Gates cabal gets more revenue for bloatware.

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10 is actually stripped down at its core. 

Also nt bulletproof. Hehe. Right. Windows 7 was probably the best once beaten into submission, but 10 is getting there. i wouldn’t call any version of Windows bulletproof. 
 

Screen control and focus, especially during auth, has gotten weirder since vista, but most of it has to do with protecting the system from malicious code mimicking user input and protecting your auth interaction from being captured. 

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For a business machine, NT served me well for almost 10 years of use on every continent on the planet (except Antartica).  Never a glitch, never a virus, and I was in the dodgiest places you can imagine.  I guess your mileage may vary.

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1 hour ago, AlDente67 said:

For a business machine, NT served me well for almost 10 years of use on every continent on the planet (except Antartica).  Never a glitch, never a virus, and I was in the dodgiest places you can imagine.  I guess your mileage may vary.

As long as your use involved turning it off and on frequently, you could get it “stable”.  When running servers, you needed to bounce them a lot depending on use. 

Where you travel doesn’t really mean much unless you are plugging into strange networks. Because the main threat to machines is the network and the person at the keyboard doing something stupid.

 

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2 hours ago, raz-0 said:

As long as your use involved turning it off and on frequently, you could get it “stable”.  When running servers, you needed to bounce them a lot depending on use. 

Where you travel doesn’t really mean much unless you are plugging into strange networks. Because the main threat to machines is the network and the person at the keyboard doing something stupid.

 

Oh yes, I meant a work laptop that gets turned on and off when I reached a destination, then jacked into usually a hotel wifi to work on documents, check mail, and so on.  Spent a lot of time in Nigeria of all places, but I guess the locals were too busy sending out scam emails overseas to bother with trying to hack into local connections, lol.  But if I wasn't at home or in the NJ office, all other networks could be considered strange.

The office servers were handled by people who knew what they were doing, not me.  :D

But from a home user standpoint, I just can't stand 10.  MS Office on the cloud has advantages in case of mishap, but no way am I storing my LLC records out in the ether.  I guess I'm old fashioned.

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