17.1 Introducing User Accounts

Like the Windows 2000 under its skin, Windows XP is designed from the ground up to be a multiple-user operating system. On a Windows XP machine, anyone who uses the computer must log on ”click (or type) your name and type in a password ”when the computer turns on. And upon doing so, you discover the Windows universe just as you left it, including these elements:

Desktop. Each person sees a different set of shortcut icons, folder icons, and other stuff left out on the desktop.
Start menu. If you reorganize the Start menu, as described in Chapter 2, you won't confuse anybody else who uses the machine. No one else can even see the changes you make.
My Documents folder. Each person sees only her own stuff in the My Documents folder (see Chapter 2).
Email. Windows XP maintains a separate stash of email messages for each account holder ”along with separate Web bookmarks, a Windows Messenger contact list, and other online details.
Favorites folder. Any Web sites, folders, or other icons you've designated as Favorites (see Section B.4) appear in your Favorites menu, and nobody else's.
Internet cache. You can read about cached Web pages in Chapter 11. This folder stores a copy of the Web pages you've visited recently for faster retrieval.
History and cookies. Windows maintains a list of recently visited Web sites independently for each person; likewise a personal collection of cookies (Web site preference files).
Control Panel settings. Windows memorizes the preferences each person establishes using the Control Panel (see Chapter 9), including keyboard, sound, screen saver, and mouse settings.
Privileges. Your user account also determines what you're allowed to do on the network and even on your own computer: which files and folders you can open, which settings you can change in the Control Panel, and even which files and folders you can open .

NOTE

Behind the scenes, Windows XP stores all of these files and settings in a single folder that techies call your user profile. It's in your My Computer Local Disk (C:) Documents and Settings [Your Name] folder.

This feature makes sharing the PC much more convenient , because you don't have to look at everybody else's files (and endure their desktop design schemes). It also adds a layer of security, making it less likely for a marauding six-year-old to throw away your files.

NOTE

Even if you don't share your PC with anyone and don't create any other accounts, you might still appreciate this feature because it effectively password-protects the entire computer. Your PC is protected from unauthorized fiddling when you're away from your desk (or when your laptop is stolen) ” especially if you tell Windows to require your logon password any time after the screen saver has kicked in (Section 9.7.4).

Since the day you first installed Windows XP or fired up a new Windows XP machine, you may have made a number of changes to your desktop ”fiddled with your Start menu, changed the desktop wallpaper, added some favorites to your Web browser, downloaded files onto your desktop, and so on ”without realizing that you were actually making these changes only to your account.

Accordingly, if you create an account for a second person, when she turns on the computer and signs in, she'll find the desktop exactly the way it was as factory installed by Microsoft: basic Start menu, Teletubbies-hillside desktop picture, default Web browser home page, and so on. She can make the same kinds of changes to the PC that you've made, but nothing she does will affect your environment the next time you log on. You'll still find the desktop the way you left it: your desktop picture fills the screen, the Web browser lists your bookmarks, and so on.

In other words, the multiple-accounts feature has two components : first, a convenience element that hides everyone else's junk; and second, a security element that protects both the PC's system software and other people's work.

If you're content simply to use Windows XP Pro, that's really all you need to know about accounts. If, on the other hand, you have shouldered some of the responsibility for administering XP Pro machines ”if it's your job to add and remove accounts, for example ”read on.