NumLock is set to "on" in my BIOS, but it doesn't work with Windows 8. I'm waiting for the Windows 8.1 upgrade to see if it's fixed there. In another thread, it was explained (paraphrased) that a Microsoft update messed it all up and they haven't been able to fix it yet.
It's supposed to be fixable in the Registry, but that doesn't seem to work either, so I won't bother typing in the path.
I password my computer on bootup, and the PW starts with numbers, etc. Currently, I have to use an extra keystroke (strike NumLock) to type in my PW. Just one more keystroke, you say, so what's the big deal? Yeah . . . a keystroke here, two keystrokes there, five somewhere else . . . you get my drift, I'm sure.