Windows XP: Working With User Accounts - Part 1

Personal settings are not just for Chrimbo, they're for life! Dave Cook explains how to share your computer without fear of losing your important settings and preferences

Sharing a computer with other users can be a right old pain. No sooner have you got the machine configured to your liking when, kapow... the nipper comes along and changes everything. Before you know it, your personalised settings and preferences have vanished quicker than a Taliban soldier in full retreat.

Thankfully, Windows XP can put a stop to all that nonsense. User accounts allow you to personalise settings and preferences for everyone who shares your computer. Windows XP Home Edition, for example, provides two types of user accounts: administrator accounts, and limited user accounts. In addition, Windows XP Professional provides standard user accounts, but these are really aimed at computers connected to a domain.

The Boss

The administrator account allows the main account holder (if the computer is set up for only one user, then that's you) to modify the computer in any way he or she deems fit. Put simply, you're the boss, the main man (woman), or, if you like, the mullah of your domain.

As the administrator, you can also view and alter the contents of every other account, create, edit, and delete user accounts, change passwords, install hardware and software, and lots more besides. You can even change your administrator account to a limited account, but only if at least one other administrator account remains on the computer.

With administrative rights, you assign limited user accounts to stop inexperienced or unauthorised users (or little tinkers like the nipper) from changing computer settings or accessing unauthorised files. Holders of limited accounts cannot change the personalised settings and configurations of other users. The only system changes they can make involves changes to their account password and logon picture. Thus, limited accounts are useful for a variety of reasons and we'll be looking at them in closer detail in part two.

The Guest

Meanwhile, the Windows XP Guest feature allows someone who isn't a regular user of your computer to operate it as though they had a limited account. No password is required, and guest access allows visitors to perform functions such as browse the Net, or write and print documents and so forth. Obviously, users who log on using the guest account do not have access to password-protected files, folders, or system settings.

You may, of course, wish to change the Windows XP Guest account feature. How you do so will depend on whether the computer is part of a workgroup or standalone computer, or whether it's a member of a domain. Most home or small office users will be using a computer that is not a member of a domain, so here's how to turn on or turn off the guest account on a workgroup or standalone computer.

Head for the Control Panel and click User Accounts. You'll see options to pick one of three tasks, or to pick an account to change. Look closely at the latter, as this area displays all the user accounts that exist on the computer. One of them will be the guest account. By default, the guest account is turned off. To turn it on, simply click Guest and then click Turn on the guest account.

enabled, click Change the picture. This provides you with several alternative picture options and enables you to change the picture that appears on the Windows Welcome screen. To turn the guest account off again, click Turn off the guest account. It's as simple as that.

Next time

In our next look at Windows XP user accounts we'll show you how to create and manage the computer's user accounts, as well as explaining the benefits of fast user switching.

 

Dave Cook