[Nitpicker]

I can't leave my Windows machine running for even 15 minutes or it logs me off and needs me to sign in again to use it. I want it to wait for me for much longer. I went to the Control Panels and chose Power Options.
I set Turn off monitor to 3 hours, ... hard disks to 30 minutes, ...standby to 2 hours, ... hibernates to 3 hours and it did not keep the machine up any longer.

What can I do to make XP less eager to save power or whatever and log me off???

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You may want to check your screen saver settings. If you have it set to 15 minutes and then have On resume, password protect checked that may be the problem.

[fructose]

You may want to check your screen saver settings. If you have it set to 15 minutes and then have On resume, password protect checked that may be the problem.

[Nitpicker]

Well, yes, I found that "Wait" had been set to 10 minutes in "Choose a screen saver" in "Appearance and Themes" so I turned that up to 30 minutes.

Then I went to look for the require a password part. Not in "Security essentials", did a search for password, go to Display, it says, so I do. It tells me to go to the the Screen Saver tab under Screen Saver. I am NOT making this up.

Apparently it lost track of the WiFi some thirty inches away that connects to my DSL line. The system offered to repair the invalid IP address, but it failed to accomplish that. I tried the fall back of power cycle the machine, which often fixes any random problem. But why, oh why is reboot soooooo sloooooooow? And firing up Firefox took minutes.

Power cycle fixed the IP address.

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To protect your files by using a screen saver password

1. Open Display in Control Panel.
2. On the Screen Saver tab under Screen saver, click a screen saver.
3. Select the On resume, password protect check box.

If Fast User Switching is turned on, select the On resume, display Welcome screen check box.

Notes

* To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
* Selecting the On Resume, password protect check box will lock your computer when the screen saver is activated. When you begin working again you will be prompted to type your password to unlock it.
* Your screen saver password is the same as your logon password. If you do not use a password to log on, you cannot set a screen saver password.
* Fast User Switching is only available for stand-alone computers and users in a workgroup. It is not available if your computer is part of a network domain.
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I find Display and click on Screen Saver but the only "On resume" option I can check is "display Welcome screen". Wait. I see it. You have to read PAST the end of the numbered list to discover that the numbered list lies to you. That is in addition to the fact that the Screen Saver window lies to you by not mentioning that one implication of "display Welcome screen" is that you will be required to sign in again. Quite the opposite of "Welcome" in my mind.

Anyway, with incredible persistence and the help of my fine friends at Geeks to Go, I have made one small change to how my Windows machine offends me.

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the help.

As an aside, I cannot imagine a good way to SEARCH for a solution to my problem. This makes a wiki even more desirable since there we could develop a good, readable list of problem areas which might have allowed me to find out where to look without needing an expert to personally help me.

[fructose]

Glad you found the problem.

A wiki would be great, but with the complexity that is microsoft, I don't know if one would ever be anywhere near complete. At least you know we are here to give you a hand.

[Nitpicker]

Well, at least the wiki, http://www.geekwiki.com has one question answered in it. If somebody wants more, they can add what they think should be there.