Managing Accounts

Windows computers are set up to be able to have a variety of user accounts:

• One account for each person or group of people who use it;
• One account for any guests; and
• One account for a mythical person called the ‘System Administrator’.

Personal User Accounts

Every Windows computer has to have at least one personal User Account. To view or change User Account details, go to Control Panel/User Accounts. Here you can see and change the details of personal User Accounts. In particular, you can

• Change Users from Limited to Administrator Accounts, and vice versa;
• Add, remove or change passwords
• Change the way users log on or off.

Use the ’Learn about’ buttons to learn about these different features.

User Accounts and the Internet

If your computer is never connected to the Internet, that is really all you need to know about user accounts. For most home users of non-Internet computers, the main advantage of having separate user accounts is to allow everyone to decorate their section with their own choice of wallpaper and screensaver.If your computer goes on the Internet, however, no matter how infrequently or briefly, your user accounts become a vital part of your computer's security

Go to Control Panels/User Accounts, and press the ‘Learn about’ buttonsto learn about the different features.