Advantages

Setting up the system to log in your account for you at system startup saves time and is simply convenient. You can start using your machine faster. You don’t have to remember the password. It is the smoothes way to start working, simply push the start button and go.

Disadvantages

If other users need access to the same machine as you, they will log in on your account automatically. This is inconvenient for them, as they have to log out of your account, or at least switch users, and then log in on their account. It is also insecure and not private for you. Other users of the machine will have full access to all your files and programs.

Best Practices

If security and privacy are important to you, do not use this feature and enter the password every time when multiple users have access to the machine. If someone else has access to your machine, it is no longer your machine. Account logins can be circumvented. Why set the password at all then? At a minimum it is a hurdle for an attacker to deal with and it can slow him down, even if ever so slightly. Even if it is only appealling to the attackers laziness and getting him frustrated from the start. This is true even if an attacker comes from an outside connection. It can be the difference between already having administrator privileges versus having to escalate the account. Use as large a toolbox as possible to protect your system. You are not only protecting your own data and system but also your neighbors, family and friends. If your system is too much of a hassle to break into or install malware on, it can’t be used as a weapon of some attacker. If you are the sole user of the machine, you’re reasonably confident that no one else can access it easily (when you’re not around), and you log in to a standard account (not an administrator account), and you have other security features in place, then automatically logging in may well be worth it.

How To

Open the Run command by pressing Windows + R. Type in “Netplwiz”. Hit enter or press the “OK” button. A “User Accounts” window will open.

Select your user account from the list. Then uncheck the box next to “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.” Press “Apply” to make the changes.

An “Automatically sign in” box appears. Type in your password and confirm it. Press the “OK” button. Press “OK” in the “User Accounts” window to exit the program.

On next boot, your account will log in automatically.