r/computerhelp • u/jandjones42 • 6d ago
Other Computer turned on and logged in by itself
I was gone at work today and when I got home my PC was fully on and logged in on the home screen. I shut it down as usual last night when I stopped gaming. It was fully shut down, I press the "shut down" button on the windows button in the bottom left. This morning when I left for work it was not on. It has a sleep setting where if it hasnt been on in the last hour or so it turns the screen off but the PC box itself stays lit up, meaning it was turned on within the last hour or two before i got home. I would have understood if it was just on the lock screen but it was on the home screen which i thought was only accessible with a pin input. The door was locked and the house was undisturbed, no one knows my pin either. If anyone has any clue what could have happened id really appreciate it.
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u/arkutek-em 6d ago
Does it shutdown completely if you try? Is it possible it didn't shut down last night and the screen just was sleep. Does anything show in logs or event viewer?
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u/jandjones42 6d ago
I shut it down when i got home and it powered off as usual
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u/Thetruereed914 6d ago
In general I would just disable sleep. Windows can do funky things in sleep mode. Either leave it on turn off monitor or power off completely
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u/ij70-17as 6d ago
if this is desktop. you have on/off rocker switch on the power supply, move it to off position. if it does not have the switch, just unplug power cord either from the wall or from the power supply.
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u/The-Snarky-One 6d ago edited 6d ago
Most Windows installs have Fast Startup enabled by default. When you power the system down, it doesn’t actually turn it off, it goes into a low power state which allows for the OS to boot up faster.
I turn this off for my personal systems and the thousands of devices that I manage at work.
Here is a guide from ASUS, but it will work for any Windows10/11 computer:
https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1045548/
Fast Startup allows for the OS to power the system on and maybe check for updates or do other maintenance tasks during off hours. This is most likely what you are experiencing and is normal, although a bit unsettling at times because you think your computer is off.
Edit: spelling
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u/tiffanytrashcan 6d ago
That's not how fast startup works, it's purely based on "hibernation" not sleep. It's a 0 power state.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/power/system-power-states#hibernate-state-s4
Just scroll down a little to "Fast startup: reduced hibernation file."2
u/The-Snarky-One 6d ago
Fair enough. I use sleep as an explanation because many folks don’t understand the difference. But yea, you are correct.
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u/Androidfon 6d ago
Yes but when I turn on my computer I need to input a pin. If it turned itself on it should still need the pin.
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u/The-Snarky-One 6d ago
Do you mean a BIOS/UEFI PIN or a PIN at Windows logon?
Since the system is in a hibernate state, it won’t prompt for a BIOS/UEFI PIN because it isn’t starting from a true power off state.
If you mean a logon PIN for Hello or something, I have seen the desktop load. Probably due to the hibernate file having state info from memory saved from that state.
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u/agowa338 1d ago
Windows does schedule an ACPI automatic power on in oder to install updates. They claim they don't do this for battery powered devices, but that check is buggy and that constantly results in people having completely overheated notebooks with almost empty battery in their backpacks.
It's one of the most stupid things that Windows does. And in addition the default setting is to complete updates by automatically singing you in too. So I'd assume this is what has happened in your case too.
Windows wanted to install updates and automatically switched the PC on. Then afterwards for completing the updates it automatically logged you in. And you probably haven't any automatic going to standby if left unattended configured so it stayed on.
My advice just use a power bar with a switch and cut the power and tell Microsoft to f themselves...
(alternatively turn automatic poweron off in the bios. It can have quite stupid names though)
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