By default, Windows NT 4.0 displays the name of the last person who logged on to
the system. This informational exposure can pose a security threat, especially
if a user’s password can be guessed from the account name or the login
environment. Many Windows NT4 sites apply the DontDisplayLastUserName registry hack. This security setting
may be lost in an upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional since the value changes
location and type. The Windows 2000 registry hack is:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Name:
DontDisplayLastUserName
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1 hide
Value: 0 don’t hide
The value was moved from the
Winlogon section to the Policies section and the type was changed from REG_SZ to
REG_DWORD.