Stored User Names and Passwords in User Accounts are getting deleted after reboots

For a couple of years, users have successfully used "Stored User Names and Passwords" in User Accounts to store server names and corresponding user sign-on credentials. For about the last three weeks, more and more users across the enterprise are beginning to report that after a system reboot, all credentials stored in "Stored User Names and Passwords" have been deleted. These values persist while the user is logged on but after reboot, they are gone. I'm also affected and all users clients are running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 (and some Service Pack 2), IE7 and IE8 users.

I have checked the Local Security Settings using Secpol.msc and "Network access: Do not allow the storage of credentials or .NET Passports for network authentication" is set to "Disabled".

In the registry, My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\disabledomaincreds value is "0".

The IT Security group assures me they haven't made any recent policy changes that could cause this behavior. Does anyone have any idea what could cause the reboot to delete the User Accounts info and how to restore (fix) the correct functioning where the values persist after reboot? Any and all help will be appreciated.

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