On every media center PC I've used, most of the usage didn't involve a keyboard. With Windows Media Center Edition 2005 I mostly used the MCE remote control and with my new Windows Vista machine I use a touch screen.

One obstacle for getting the perfect setup on your media center is the logging in process. On Windows XP or Vista you'll have to click a Windows XP user icon (or enter a username) and enter the password (if applicable) to log in. I want to have a password to protect shared content but I don't want to have to actually log in or click the frog Windows XP user icon next to the name "Brian". I want my user account to automatically log in and have it run a startup script, open up commonly used programs, etc. There is a fix available for Windows XP / Windows Vista.

Use the Start Menu -> Run to pull up the run box (or on Vista, just pull up the start menu and click on the "start search") and type in "control userpasswords2". Hit enter and you will be presented with a "User Accounts" dialog. Simply uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" box. When you click "Apply" or "OK", the dialog will prompt you with the credentials you want to use to automatically log in. Enter the user you would like to be automatically logged in and you're ready to go.

Labels: Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP