Profiles & Passwords for Windows

This is good if you share your computer with others all having different profiles, as each user, with a different password for his/her profile, accesses different files but cannot access the files of the other users, to preserve privacy.
Click Start, Settings, Control Panel. Double-click Passwords. Set profiles and passwords for each user.

It is a nuisance if you are the only user: when you start, you first wait for the computer to go through its paces up to the password screen, then you enter a password, and then you wait again until Windows is ready for use.
To get rid of the password:
Click Start, Settings, Control Panel. Double-click Network, select Configuration tab, Primary Network Logon, Windows Login, click OK. Do not restart. In Control Panel, double-click Passwords, select Change Passwords tab, change Windows password, make it a blank, OK. Select User Profiles tab, click the option "All users use same ... settings", click Close.
Click Start, Find/Search, Files or Folders, select drive C: and type *.pwl (password list). Right-click each file and rename its extension (currently .pwl) to .old -- but do not rename a *.pwl in the \cab folder as it probably is your password to go online.
Now, click Start, Shutdown, Restart. You should be able to get into Windows in one go, without interruption.