Please Forgive Me, But What Is ASP?

I'm sorry, but I'm a little new here. I just installed WinXP, used the automatic updates feature, and just recently realized that I've been having to select my user name at the login screen, instead of just going through to the desktop. I checked User Accounts, and realized that there is another account in there, called Asp... something. Sorry , but what is that? Thanks for your help :)hello,
After the installation of the .NET Framework you will find the ASPNET account on the local computer. If you start a ASP.NET web application this account will be used by the ASP.NET worker process (aspnet_wp.exe). For security reason the user has only some privileges, of course, no network access.

So, this account is used only when you are developing asp.net application.

ASP.NET is the new version of ASP which is the active server pages, ASP was a scripting language, but now with asp.etn 1.0 a web application is more like a desktop application !! Which means that you create your classes, and your html pages andlink them together.

should you have any other question ?
For what the ASPNET account is concerned. It's safe to have it on your machine although you're not using ASP.NET but if you want you can of course disable it if you're not running any ASP.NET driven apps in IIS. Please remark that the ASPNET account only exists on Windows 2000 and XP with the .NET Framework installed, and not anymore on the Windows Server 2003 software where the process model of ASP.NET and IIS in its entirety has been modified.
If you install the TweakXP tool, you can set up your system for an automatic login, just as you had before the installation of the .NET framework. This has no influence on the well behaving of ASP.NET applications (as removing the account migth be)
Thanks to all, this was very helpful and fast! I figured it wasn't a big deal, but since I didn't recognize the "User Account" in there I wasn't sure. I saved a system restore point and deleted the ASP account. I don't see that I'll be using it. Thanks again :)
After my last updates to XP, my comp was no longer booting straight to my desktop but instead was only going as far as the log-in screen, despite that I was the only 'user' listed. It wasn't until I tried to see what changes I could make to revert back to the way it was that I discovered the 'intruder' -- "ASP.NET Machine A..." -- and my first reaction was to think that an unauthorized user had been screwing around with my computer. But then I started to put 2 and 2 together and decided to see what was on any website named "asp.net", thinking that maybe this was some new form of spyware crap. That led me here, and I'm glad to see that this is nothing to become alarmed about; I guess it was stupid of me to just update everything about XP without reading what the updates are, but I always figured that even if I'm not using something now, it can't hurt to get the update in case I need it later. Thanks for the explanation. Still, it is a bit unsettling that MS doesn't offer any sort of info such as through a popup screen after that update is installed.

NOW ... where can I find this "TweakXP" tool that you just mentioned, because I want to go back to booting straight to my desktop, but I don't really want to remove the ASP.NET until I have a chance to read about it and decide if it's something I want to learn and use (I'm a rank amateur, but I do create my own websites ;-)

Thanks for any info or help.

Bill Velek
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

There is a whole host of cool stuff for WinXP there.

-Josh