Some other things: Go to Accounts Login prefs and play with the settings there. You might want to remove the loginwindow.plist in the main Library. Don't throw it out, just put it aside.
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Take a look at the changes that you can make to the login process. First, Mac OS X provides three methods of displaying the login screen:
* Logging in with a list: To log in, click your account username in the list, and the login screen displays the password prompt. Type your password - Mac OS X displays bullet characters to ensure security - and press Return (or click the Log In button).
* Logging in with username and password: Type your account username in the Name field and press Tab. Then type your password and press Return (or click the Log In button).
* Auto Login: With Auto Login set, Mac OS X automatically logs in the specified account when you reboot. In effect, you never see the login screen unless you click Log Out from the Apple menu. (Naturally, this option is attractive if your computer is in a secure location - like your office - and you'll be the only one using your Mac.)
To specify which type of login screen you see - if you see one at all - head to System Preferences, click Accounts, and then click the Login Options button.
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The Listless Login Screen
There are two ways of displaying the login panel. The user-friendly way is the list of names, but for greater security (though less convenience), you may prefer to require that would-be Mac users type both their names and their passwords into text boxes. This way, would-be evildoers have to know both the correct spelling of a legitimate account holder's name and the password.
Most people think that getting to this text-box login screen entails opening System Preferences, clicking on Accounts, clicking on Login Options, and turning on Name And Password. The truth is, though, that there's a much quicker way to switch, without even involving System Preferences -- it's a trick you might use when, for example, you want to log in as console or root (advanced techies, you know who you are), which requires that you type the name in.
From the list-of-names view, hold down the option and enter keys, and then click on any name. The login panel switches to displaying the text-entry boxes, where you can log in as root or console.
To switch back to the list view, just click on the Go Back button in the lower left corner of the login panel. (Changing the panel this way is a onetime affair; at the next login, the dialog box will be back to its previous state.)
Also some ideas here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=50413Do you have a full backup on an external? If so, does the login window seem different there?
