How to avoid logging on as an administrator

I'm working with a public computer that automatically logs the first person to boot it up as the administrator. This means the first person has to be the administrator so they can log off and log back on as a patron. Is there any way to change the boot so it automatically logs on as the patron?
TIA
Keith

 

Is this a registry change issue?
Keith

 

Public computer? Who is the system administrator & why can't they set this?

Operating system?

 

Well, it's not me, but in any case, they don't know how. The previous administrator died unexpectedly. OS is Windows 2000.
Keith

 

Double-click the Users icon in Control Panel, and choose the Users tab.
Turn on the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option, and click Ok.

 

That lets us put in the Patron as a user, but Patron is already there as a user. We can log off the Administrator and log on as Patron, no problem. The problem is that the computer boots every time as Administrator, automatically putting in the password. The "log-in as" screen is grayed out (i.e, doesn't respond to any input), and just boots up in admin mode. We want it to boot as Patron or giving the user the choice as to what they log in as. The Administrator isn't there every day and doesn't want other users to have administrator access when they start the computer... which they do. Right now the Administrator is just trusting the users to log off the Administrator and log back on as Patron. That works until somebody doesn't do it and starts fooling around inside the system....
Keith

 

Exactly. Somebody already fooled around to get W2K to logon directly. You are right it is a registry issue, I will look it up.

Is this a stand alone PC?

 

There is another PC that uses the same wireless network, but they don't talk to or see each other (on purpose).
Keith

 

Before we look at the registry,

is there a .bat or .cmd file in the following location and does the location exist?

If this Windows was updated from W98

C:\windows\system32\repl\import\scripts

If this Windows was installed as 2k or NT

C:\winnt\system32\repl\import\scripts

Any script file pointed to by this location will be executed at boot and could perform the automatic logon you are describing.