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In Windows 8 and 8.1, there is the newly added locked screen. The lock screen will play when you sign in or leave your PC. You can learn about some information like weather, date and notifications, which is considered to be useful for some computer users. There are many people who don't like this new lock screen. Its useless for them as it doesn't do anything special. If you want a faster way to get into the system when logging in, one option is to disable the Lock Screen. Method One: Disable the Lock Screen via Group Policy Step1. Go to the desktop, and press Win + R keys meanwhile to open the Run box. And enter gpedit.msc to the box and click OK button. Step2. Navigate to the specified location step by step when you enter the Local Group Policy Editor. Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Control Panel -> Personalization(as shown below) When you go to the Personalization, you will get three configurable items on the right pane. Select the “Do not display the lock screen” settings, and right click it and select Edit option. Then you’ll get a new dialog in which you need to change the radio button from “Not Configured” to “Enabled”. Step3. Click Apply button, and then close the dialog by clicking OK button. Method Two: Disable the Lock Screen via Windows Registry Step1. You should sign in the Windows as an administrator first. Then press Ctrl + C keys at the same time to open the Charm menu. Then enter regedit to the search box, so that you can access to Registry Editor. Step2. Follow the file path as below to find the file location in the Registry Editor. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization If you can’t find the Personalization item, you can right click the Windows key and point to New, and then create a key named Personalization. Step3. Right-click in the right pane and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value named NoLockScreen. Step4. Double-click the NoLockScreen value and enter a value of 1. Step5. Restart your PC so that the modification you made can take effect.

Your PC’s Windows registry can cause a number of problems for your computer, from a slow running computer to an actual computer crash but it’s easy to fix. Unfortunately, the registry is also a vital part of your Windows operating system. So you can’t solve these types of problems just by eliminating it entirely. What Is the Windows Registry and Why is It Important? The Windows registry is the central nervous system of your computer. It acts as the central switchboard that tells each program when it should activate, and whether or not a given user has the power to activate it. This is true for the programs you activate yourself (such as MS Word or a browser). It is also true for every computer process that works in the background. Sound complicated? It’s actually an improvement over the way PCs once worked. Improved operating speed and stability when it was first released with Windows 3.1. Without it, your computer would take much longer to perform run the chain of commands required to perform even a simple operation. Your registry also determines when and in which order each executable function should run. It controls which one of your programs begin immediately on starting you Windows PC. This means that if you modify your registry, you can actually make your computer start up faster. The registry also controls who can operate which programs on your computer. Most guest accounts don’t have the same privileges as computer owner accounts, for example. Many people may wish to modify which programs or files that guest accounts or children’s’ accounts may be able to use. All of the above information is written and stored in your computer’s registry—without your ever having to access the registry itself. A Closer Look: How You Change Your Registry Without Knowing It You can spend your whole life without ever interacting directly with your registry. This is recommended for most non-technical users. As you will learn later, even technically-oriented users are often intimidated by this database! All the same, you do make changes to your registry on an almost daily basis. Most of us don’t notice it. But changes are made in this particular section of Windows every time you: Install new software (An “Installation Wizard” is just a fancy way of making these changes) Change settings on your software Update software Update or change settings on Windows Create or modify a user account Update or change settings to your Windows operating system All of these changes are necessary to keep your computer running in the most secure, vital, and up-to-date fashion. Unfortunately, after enough of these changes, most Windows computers begin to slow down. Registry Errors and Slow Running PCs As you can see, your registry is constantly being modified. Many of these modifications are made without your notice, such as when a program updates, or when a third party application runs from your browser. Over time, entries to the registry build and start to “clog” the system. Your computer may slow down or even crash because of: 1. Multiple copies of each entry (often updated over time) 2. Out of date entries 3. Lingering entries from software that has been removed from the computer 4. Incorrect or invalid entries that were mistakenly installed 5. Entries from viruses or other malicious programs (antivirus programs do not always remove every bad registry entry) 6. Registry files that have become corrupt over time with disk fragmentation At best, these registry errors will slow your computer startup time and give you a slow running computer overall. At worst these entries can cause things like screen freeze and computer crash. Aside from being inconvenient, a computer crash can result in lost personal files—family photos, financial information, and anything else you might keep on your computer. How Can I Fix the Windows Registry and Speed Up My PC? It is possible to go through your Windows registry by hand and check each entry against the entries that match up with each program on your computer. For those who don’t want to fix the “Windows Central Nervous System,” by hand, there are two choices: A trusted PC technician or a trusted registry cleaning software ( Here I recommend Wise Registry Cleaner, it is fast and stable. With the automatic Registry Backup feature, you can always restore to the previous point when your PC malfunctions after the registry cleaning). The choice of which is entirely up to you. The important thing is to have your registry fixed before problems get worse!