Windows 8 now has a slide-away lock screen like so many other OSes designed for a touch interface. However on a non-touch PC/laptop this is just an extra annoying step in logging in. There is an option to disable it, but this also turns off the password requirement.

Is there a way to disable the lock screen, and have Windows wake up directly to the password entry screen? Often when pressing a key to hide it there will be a noticeable delay before password entry is accepted, and no indicator, so one can easily lose the first character or so that they attempt to type, thus failing the login attempt.