Problem:

Backup waits for MS Passport Sign-in

Specifics:

WinXP Home, Genie Home ver 5.0 Backup software, Backing up My Docs

Description: 

Upon starting a backup, it would stop while it waited for a login to MS Passport.  This made it impossible to run an unattended backup.

Root Cause:

Someone on this computer had logged into MSN via network neighborhood at some time.  There is a folder in \Document and Settings\AnyUser\Nethood that contains the Network neighborhood information for all users.  When the backup program touched the MSN file for backup purposes, the MSN file triggered a login sequence to the resource which presented a login screen to the user and stopped the backup program while it waited for an answer.

Solution: 

In the backup program, I unchecked the Nethood directory for all of the known users.  I could also have simply unchecked the MSN entry, but chose to uncheck the entire directory.  After doing so, the backup now completes itself unattended.