Cutting to the chase: Use ".\" to login as a local user.
I worked heavily with Windows 7 for the last year and just recently figured this out. I mourn all the lost time attempting to figure out the computer name. Now I can quickly figure out the computer name from the login prompt. I can quickly login (or authenticate) as a local user without ever having to think about the computer name. I love this.
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
I don't use it as much as I thought I would, but it's still a neat trick. - Dubnium 12 years ago
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprosecurity/thread/bee26f30-23b2-4c44-8ea1-e43fee1fed08 - SMal.tmcc 12 years ago