Every laptop or device that remotely connects to your corporate network or systems is called an “endpoint,” which means these devices are all a potential entry point for security threats. In the case of your Windows 10 laptop is set to log in automatically - that’s what we InfoSec experts consider an endpoint. Or the source of a data breach at your company! You don’t want to be a target of identity theft. Even on your personal computers at home, following these policies can help make sure your own information stays safe! Everyone should be aware about how to protect their own personal and financial information at home. They might sound boring, but the information security policies and procedures at your company are incredibly important.

Why Small Steps are Important for Keeping Your Company Secure Three easy steps to make your Windows 10 computer, and data, more secure! Restart your computer and the system will prompt you to enter your password at the login screen.

Check the option for “ Users must enter a username and password to use this computer” and click Apply.

Netplwiz is a Windows utility tool for managing user accounts.

Press Win+R, enter “ netplwiz“, which will open the “ User Accounts” window.

(If you have an Apple computer, there are slightly different instructions for how to disable the automatic login for Mac OS.) How To Disable Automatic Login: Because of this, companies that have information security policies typically mandate that you disable automatic login on your Windows 10 machine. This automatic login means that anyone who finds your computer (or steals it!) only needs to start it up to have access to all your files.

Especially if you travel with your laptop. This likely isn’t a problem if you’re at home all the time, but if you have a laptop this becomes a serious security risk. When you first set up a new PC with Windows 10, you create a user account which is set by default to log in automatically at startup.

Windows 10 automatic logout