1. Creating a User Account
The
first user account created on a computer is automatically an
administrator account—every computer must have at least one—so if yours
is the first or only user account on the computer, you are operating as
an administrator. You can create additional accounts for yourself or
for other people who will use your computer.
To
create a user account, you need to specify only a user account name and
the account type. The user account name you choose is displayed on the
Welcome screen and at the top of the Start menu. The first time anyone
logs on with a new user account, Windows creates a corresponding user
profile, including a set of personal folders within the Users folder
structure.
Windows
assigns a user account picture from its standard set to the new user
account. After creating the user account, any administrator or the
account owner can change the user account name or picture, or protect
the account with a password. Changing the user account name or picture
changes the corresponding elements on the Welcome screen and Start
menu. After the account has been used to log on to the computer and
Windows has created the personal folders, changing the user account
name does not change the name of the user's personal folder.
See Also For information about changing user account names and pictures, and assigning passwords to user accounts.
Important
If your computer is part of a domain, network permissions are
administered through your domain account. You might be able to create a
new account on your local computer, but only a network administrator
can create or modify a domain user account.
In this exercise, you'll create a user account with administrator permissions.
SET UP
You don't need any practice files for this exercise, but you will need
administrator account credentials. Display Control Panel in Category
view, and then follow the steps.
In Control Panel, under User Accounts and Family Safety, click Add or removeuser accounts.
The Manage Accounts window opens.
The Manage Accounts window displays icons for all the accounts set up on your computer.
Click Create a new account.
The Create New Account window opens.
You can set up either a standard user account or an administrator account.
In the New account name box, type Angel.
Click Administrator, and then click Create Account.
Windows 7 creates a new account with the user account name Angel, and randomly assigns a user account picture to the account, which now appears in the Manage Accounts window.
See Also For information about user account pictures.
CLEAN UP Close the Manage Accounts window, retaining the Angel account for use in later exercises in this chapter.
Tip:
You can quickly display your user account settings by clicking your
user account picture that appears at the top of the right pane of the
Start menu.
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More
than one user account can be logged on to the same computer at the same
time. For example, if you are working on a shared home computer and
your son wants to check e-mail on that computer while you get a snack,
he can log on to his user account without disturbing the programs and
files you are working with.
To log on to your user account while another account is active:
On the Start menu, click the Shut-down Options button, and then click Switch User. On the Welcome screen, click your user account, and then enter the password if one is required.
Repeat the process to switch back to the original user's session or between user accounts.
When
you shut down your computer, Windows warns you if another user account
is active so that you don't inadvertently lose another user's unsaved
work or shut down the computer without appropriately exiting running
programs.
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2. Managing a User Account
Every
user account has an associated user account name and a user account
picture. The account might also have a password, if one has been
assigned.
Important
If you're going to take the trouble to protect your user account with a
password, choose one that no one is likely to guess. A strong password
is at least eight characters, does not contain words that might be in
the dictionary or names, and contains at least one uppercase character,
one lowercase character, one number, and one punctuation mark.
Any user can change the following for his or her account:
Account name You can change the display name that appears on the Welcome screen and Start menu.
Account picture You can change the picture that identifies you on the Welcome screen and Start menu.
Password You can create or change the password.
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When
you assign a password to your user account, you can also save a
password hint. Windows 7 displays the password hint if you enter an
incorrect password. If you didn't save a password hint, or can't
remember the password even with the help of the hint, you can reset
your password—but only if you have created a password reset disk. You
can create this disk on a USB flash drive or on a floppy disk, but not
on a CD.
Don't
think you'll ever forget your password? It might sound unlikely, but it
can happen, especially if you are required you to change your password
frequently.
Creating a password reset disk is a simple precaution to take.
To create a password reset disk:
Connect a USB flash drive, or insert a disk into your computer's floppy disk drive. Open the User Accounts window of Control Panel. In the left pane, click Create A Password Reset Disk. On
the Welcome page of the Forgotten Password wizard, click Next. On the
Create A Password Reset Disk page, select the USB flash drive or floppy
disk drive you want to use, and then click Next. On the Current User Account Password page, enter the password you use to log on to Windows 7, and then click Next. When the progress bar displays 100% complete, click Next. Then on the Completing The Forgotten Password Wizard page, click Finish.
Be
sure to store the password reset disk in a safe place, because anyone
can use it to reset your password and gain access to your computer.
If
you enter an incorrect password on the Welcome screen, a message box
informs you that the user account name or password is incorrect. After
clicking OK to return to the Welcome screen, you can use your password
reset disk as follows:
On the Welcome screen, below the password box, click Reset Password. On
the Welcome page of the Password Reset wizard, click Next. On the
Insert The Password Reset Disk page, select the USB flash drive or
floppy disk drive you want to use. Insert the password reset disk into
the drive, then click Next. On the Reset The User Account Password page, enter a new password and password hint, and then click Next. On the Completing The Forgotten Password Wizard page, click Finish.
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If
you have administrator credentials, you can change these properties for
any user account. You can also change the account type from
administrator to standard user (provided at least one administrator
account remains on the computer) or vice versa.
Windows
7 comes with many user account pictures, depicting a variety of
animals, sports, and interests. You can personalize your user account
by selecting the picture that most closely matches your personality or
interests. If you don't like any of the pictures provided, you can use
one of your own. You can use .bmp, .gif, .jpg, or .png files as user
account pictures. The original graphic can be any size, but the user
account picture is always displayed as a square. If you select a
graphic whose height and width are not the same, the graphic will be
stretched or cropped to a square shape when displayed.
In
this exercise, you'll change the type of the account you created in the
previous exercise. You'll change the account picture first to one
provided by Windows 7 and then to a custom image. Finally, you'll
assign a password to the account.
SET UP
You need the Angel account you created in the previous exercise and the
Angelic image located in your Documents\Microsoft
Press\Windows7SBS\Accounts folder to complete this exercise. You also
need administrator account credentials. Display the Manage Accounts
window of Control Panel, and then follow the steps.
In the Manage Accounts window, click Angel.
The Change An Account window opens.
The Change An Account window displays the options for changing the selected account.
Tip: The user account picture assigned to your Angel account might be diff erent than ours because pictures are randomly assigned.
Click Change the account type.
The Change Account Type window opens.
You can change a user account from Standard User to Administrator and vice versa.
With Standard user selected, click Change Account Type.
In the Change An Account window, Standard user now appears under Angel's user account name.
Click Change the picture.
The Choose Picture window opens.
The Choose Picture window displays the user account pictures that come with Windows 7, and any custom images you've used.
Click any picture that you want, and then click Change Picture.
In the Change An Account window, the picture has changed.
In the Change an Account window, click Change the picture. Then below the thumbnails in the Choose Picture window, click Browse for more pictures.
In the left pane of the Open dialog box, click Libraries. Then in the center pane, double-click Documents, double-click Microsoft Press, double-click Windows7SBS, and then double-click Accounts.
Click the Angelic image, and then click Open to switch to that picture.
The Change An Account window displays the selected user account picture for Angel's account.
Click Create a password.
The Create Password window opens.
You can enter the password and a hint to remind you if you forget it.
In the New password box, type wOOfw00f! (with two capital letter Os and two zeros). Then press the Tab key to move to the next field.
To ensure the secrecy of the password, the characters are displayed as dots as you type.
In the Confirm new password box, retype wOOfw00f!
In the Type a password hint box, type What does Angel say?
Click Create password to save the password as part of Angel's user account profile.
In the Change An Account window, Password protected appears under Angel's user account type.
CLEAN UP Close the Change An Account window.
