When I boot or wake up my laptop running Windows 8.1, it first shows me a wallpaper and displays the time.
Then I have to click or press any key in order to get to the login screen, where I can enter my password.
Is there any way to directly get to the login screen, without getting to the wallpaper screen first?
Yep it can be done fairly easily although only tested on Windows 8 not 8.1...:
Click on the Start ORB key, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.
You should now get Local Group Policy Editor open up.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization
Change 'Do not display the lock screen' to Enabled and then reboot Windows.
