Windows 7 has a number of methods for working with
user accounts. The most direct route is to use Control Panel’s Manage
Accounts window (select Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove User
Accounts). You create a new user account by following these steps:
1. | Click Create a New Account. The Create New Account window appears.
| 2. | Type the name for the account. The name can be up to 20 characters and must be unique on the system.
| 3. | Activate
either Administrator (to add the user to the Administrators group) or
Standard User (to add the user to the Users group).
| 4. | Click Create Account.
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To modify an existing account, you have two choices:
To modify your
own account, click Go to the Main User Accounts Page to open the User
Accounts window. Note that the links you see are slightly different from
the ones listed next. For example, instead of Change Name, you see
Change Your Name. To modify another user’s account, click the account in the Manage Accounts window.
The latter technique opens the Change an Account window, which includes some of or all the following tasks:
Change the Account Name— Click this link to change the account’s username. In the Rename Account window, type the new name and click Change Name. Create a Password—
You see this task only if the user doesn’t yet have an account
password. Click the link to open the Create Password window, type the
password twice, type a password hint, and then click Change Password. Note
A strong password is the
first line of defense when it comes to local computer security.
Caution
The password hint is text that Windows 7 displays in the Welcome screen if you type an incorrect password. Because the hint is visible to anyone trying
to log on to your machine, make the hint as vague as possible but still
useful to you if you forget your password.
Change the Password—
If the user already has a password, click this link to change it. In
the Change Password window, type the password twice, type a password
hint, and then click Change Password. Remove the Password— If the user already has a password, click this link to delete it. In the Remove Password window, click Remove Password. Change the Picture—
Click this link to change the random picture that Windows 7 assigns to
each account. In the Choose Picture window, either click one of the
displayed images and then click Change Picture, or click Browse for More
Pictures to use the Open dialog box to pick out an image from the Pictures folder (or wherever you like). Set Up Guest Mode— Click this link to display the Set Up Guest Mode window shown in Figure 1.
When guest mode is turned on, any changes the user makes during a
session (settings configured, new files created, and so on) are reversed
so that the computer returns to the exact state it was in before the
user logged on.
Set Up Parental Controls— Click this link to apply parental controls to the user.
Change the Account Type— Click
this link to open the Change Account Type window. Click either Standard
User or Administrator, and then click Change Account Type. Delete the Account—
Click this link to delete the user account. In the Delete Account
window, click either Delete Files or Keep Files (to delete or keep the
user’s documents), and then click Delete Account.
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