A guide to managing XP user accounts

Setting up a User Account for each member of the family is a great way to keep everybody happy when more than one person shares the home computer. Each user can have Windows set up as they want, with different wallpapers, font sizes and shortcuts on the Desktop to frequently used applications, without affecting anybody else.

There are also good security reasons for creating user accounts as this means that your files and emails stay private from other users. Here, we will explain everything you need to know to set this up.

The best way to explain user accounts is to compare the home PC to the family car. The driver has complete control over the car and the other people in the car. The passenger in the front can change some things, such as the radio station or whether the windows are open or shut, but cannot take direct control of the car. The passengers in the back have the least control.

A user account allows Windows to distinguish between users on a computer and the respective rights they should have. Each user account has their own space on the hard disk for file storage and a collection of settings relating to that account alone stored in the computer's Registry.

If you select Control Panel from the Start menu you'll see an icon labelled User Accounts. This is where the folder for each user is stored as well as a couple of special folders - All Users and Default User.

Setting up a user account for each user is the best way to maintain privacy as you can limit what each user has access to. In older versions of Windows, such as Me and 98, there was no way of stopping any user from browsing through the contents of the entire hard disk. Windows XP and 2000 have features for stopping this.

Taking control
There are two types of User Account in Windows: Administrator accounts and Limited User accounts. Only an Administrator has complete control of the PC and can assign rights to different users. The Administrator can view or change any file or folder on the computer, unless a user has specified that that folder should be private.

Windows will automatically create an Administrator account when the operating system is first installed. By default, this won't be password-protected - you have to assign a password yourself. This user account is not displayed in the Welcome screen and is only accessible in Safe Mode. If there is an Administrator account on your PC with no password protection, you should change this at the earliest opportunity.

To do this, repeatedly press F8 once you have turned the power on, but before Windows starts, to show the start-up menu. Press the up arrow so that Safe mode is highlighted and then press Enter. Windows will start in Safe mode and the welcome screen will now show the default Administrator account.

Limited Users will not be shown. Click on the Administrator user and Windows will finish loading. Now click on the Start button and then Control Panel and User Accounts as before, and then click on Administrator.

Click on the Create a password option. Enter a password in the two boxes and leave a hint if you think you might need help recalling the password in the future. Make sure that the Administrator password is hard to guess and that the hint does not totally give it away. Click on the Create password button then restart the computer.

Setting up User Accounts
During the wizard that runs when Windows starts for the first time there is an opportunity to create user profiles on the computer. This is the simplest time to add new users, but it does mean that each of these users is created as an Administrator without a password, so you will have to revisit this to restrict user privileges, if necessary, and assign passwords at a later date.

To do this, start the computer and log in as any of the Administrator users that were set up the first time Windows was used. Click on the Start button, select Control Panel and click on User Accounts. From here you can create users and change options for their accounts.

To create an account, click on the Create a new account option in the Pick a task section. Give the user a name, click on Next and select which type of user you want to create. You should select Limited, unless the user needs to have Administrator rights. Click on Create to finish the wizard.

The account should be given a password following the same instructions we outlined above. If you set a password at a later date, all of the passwords that Internet Explorer stores to give you quick access to websites will be lost, so set the password at the outset.

Each user can create a Password reset disk in case they forget their password, using a floppy disk. This disk should be kept safe as it gives full access to that person's account. It's not essential to do this and we hope that Microsoft provides the option to save such info to a CD or USB key in future.

You can only create a reset disk for a user when you are logged in as that user. Once you've logged in, click on the Prevent a forgotten password option on the left of the User Accounts screen accessed from the Control Panel. Insert a floppy disk and click on Next, enter your current password and click on Next again. The disk will be created, click on Next to finish the wizard.

To recover a forgotten password, click on your user name on the welcome screen and then on the green arrow without entering a password. A message balloon will appear with an option to use your password reset disk and a wizard will appear to help guide you through this process.

Click on Next, insert the disk and click on next again. Type a new password into the two boxes and add a hint below. Click on Finish and log in with the new password. This disk can be used as many times as it is needed without updating with the new password.

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