When you start your Windows 7 computer, a logon screen is presented to you where you can enter your login credentials. For extra security, you can enable the requirement of pressing the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del before a user can see the logon screen. Not having to press Ctrl + Alt + Del leaves users susceptible to attacks that attempt to intercept their passwords. Here is how you can configure a Windows 7 computer to require pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del at logon :
- Press the keyboard shortcut Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog.
- Type regedit in the Run dialog and press Enter to start the Registry Editor.
- In the Registry Editor navigate to the following key :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem
- Right-click anywhere in the right side pane and select New → DWORD (32-bit) value to create a new DWORD value. Give the new value a name DisableCAD.
- Though the Registry Editor assigns a value of 0 to all newly created DWORD values, yet if you find its value is non-zero then you can double-click on the newly created value DisableCAD and change its value to 0 as shown.
- That’s it. The next time you start Windows, you will have to press the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del before you can log on to your user account.
