This is probably really simple but i wanna turn off needing to log on. I just want the computer to turn on and log in automatically without having ot click on an account because we only use one account. There is also another problem actually.. when i tell the computer to shut down it sort of crashes on the 'windows is shutting down' screen so when i force it to shut off by holding power it doesnt quite register as an error either.. what is the problem here...???

For the first quiz: Go to Start / Control Panel / User Accoun. Click on Change the Way users log on and off, then select "Use the Welcome Screen." For the second quiz: Could you be a little more specific?

First Issue: As long as there is more than one active user account in Windows XP, you will be prompted to select the user account you want to log on with. If you have other user accounts that you aren't using, but they are still active, you will need to remove them. If you don't want to delete user accounts you can download a small program called TweakUI that has the ability to set an auto login. To find the program just perform a search on Google.com for 'tweakui', or download it from www.download.com. Second Issue: When you say that the system "crashes" on shutdown are you receiving any messages or does it just not shut down? More details will help with this issue.

Tweak UI resets to default settings sometimes though.

thanx for all your help guys Well there isn't really an explanation i end up having to pull out the power supply on the laptop. Then when the computer it doesn't seem to 'check for consistency' as it usually does. It doesnt shut down normally. Also there are other problems with the computer suddenly shutting down randomnly in the middle of use perhaps more often when lots of windows are open. This registers as an error and the computer is checked for consistency but nothing is found