How to add a default value to Joomla mod_login

I spent ages modifying the mod_login default.php file to no avail.

I deleted my cache under Tools > Clean Cache, restarted Apache, nothing was working.

Then I remembered that I had overridden the standard output from the Joomla! Core Modules and Components by adding code to the html directory of my template.

I made the change in C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\templates\myproject\html\mod_login\default.php by adding a value="" attribute to the input tag:

<fieldset>
        <label for="mod_login_username">
            <?php echo JText::_('Username'); ?>
        </label>
        <input name="username" id="mod_login_username" 
               type="text" 
           class="inputbox" 
           value="<?php echo JText::_('Username'); ?>" 
           alt="<?php echo JText::_('Username'); ?>" />
        <label for="mod_login_password">
            <?php echo JText::_('Password'); ?>
        </label>
        <input type="password" id="mod_login_password" 
               name="passwd" 
           class="inputbox" 
           value="<?php echo JText::_('Password'); ?>" 
           alt="<?php echo JText::_('Password'); ?>" /> 
</fieldset>