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Using your personal computer |
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Hilton Head Island Computer Club |
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Welcome |
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This is not a greeting but I do welcome those of you reading this. The subject is the default Welcome logon in Windows XP. I hope to tell you enough about this type logon so that you may use it in the best manner for your computer. Some on you may not even notice that it is being used because your computer automatically logs on. When you first got your new computer and during the initial start-up you were asked some questions. If they asked you for your name that may be the user logged on or Owner or something similar, from other manufacturers. This only works this way if there is only one user with computer administrator account type and no password. In this type of logon there is only one other type of account and is referred to as limited. An administrative account has the permissions do all tasks on the computer but the limited account can not install programs, change systems settings and for some programs, can not even run the program. All changes are made in the Control Panel under User Accounts. It is a wise idea to give your computer administrator a password for protection of how your computer is used. Once you have given your account a password, during start up, it will stop for the password to complete the start up. You cannot go back to the automatic logon even if you remove the password. Microsoft uses this logon type so that multiple users can easily sign in. If this computer was to be used by more then one person, each could have their own logon, with or without passwords and in either account type. For family use you could have the adults with administrator accounts and the children with limited accounts. Using passwords for the adults would go a long way for keeping non-wanted programs from being installed. The children probably would also use passwords to protect their use on the computer. This type of logon has another interesting feature in that all users have an icon next to their user’s name and a chance to personalize it with a picture or another graphic. An individual with an administrator account can install a program and make it available so that limited users can run the program. This is a major advantage in controlling what is installed on the computer. Another unique and interesting feature in this type of logon is switching users. If I were using the computer and wish to do something else for a while, I could go to Start->Log Off and select Switch Users and the logon screen with all users would return. All my programs would continue to run and when I came back I could logon to exactly where I was when I left. The only problem with this type of usage is that someone could use the computer and then shut it down and I would lose my settings. So if you were working on something you would do well to save it prior to switching off. Microsoft does a good job on explaining how to use all these features. Open User Accounts and we will talk about getting to some of these features. In the left hand upper corner is a section called Learn About. There are three items; Users Accounts, User Account Types and Switching Users and you should read all of them as they are short and concise. If you want additional information select the “Learn more about User Accounts” link at the bottom of all three items. The rest of the dialog box has two areas, Pick a task or pick an account to change. In the pick a task area the only item you probably will use is Create a new account. If you like this approach, you would not need to change the type of logon and clicking on any user will bring you to all the options for changes to an account. The dialog for the individual user has six options and all are straight forward but you may be confused about the last option. A few years ago Microsoft came up with the .Net passport as a secure logon that Microsoft would manage and they would offer to other vendors that logon. This way you could have all personal information in one location and the other vendors would use Microsoft to verify you for their services. I do not think this came out as Microsoft imagined, but I have one and it is sometimes needed for interfacing with Microsoft. I need to say something very important about logon in the Windows XP operating system, in Windows 95, 98 and ME logon was not worth much. Anyone could cancel at the logon and Windows would start. When you were in Windows, deleting all PSD files in the windows folder would allow |
