Closing Off Your Computer by Disabling All Other Users
If you’ve got other
user accounts on your computer, there may be times when you don’t want
anyone else to use the computer for a while. For example, perhaps the
hard drive is getting full and you don’t want anyone using the machine
until you add more capacity. Similarly, if you have an account set up
for a child and that child violates the rules you’ve set for using the
computer, you might want to temporarily disable the account as
punishment.
Whatever the reason, you
need some way of disabling all other user accounts. The standard
Windows user account tools don’t give you any direct way of doing this,
but it’s possible to make it happen by using the Local Users and Groups
snap-in.
Follow these steps to disable one or more user accounts:
1. | Select Start, type lusrmgr.msc into the Search box, and then press Enter. The Local Users and Groups snap-in appears.
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3. | Click Users. Windows displays a list of the users on your system.
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4. | Double-click the account you want to disable. The account’s Properties dialog box appears.
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5. | Activate the Account Is Disabled check box.
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6. | Click OK to return to the Local Users and Groups window.
Note
When
you disable an account, Windows indicates this by adding a
downward-pointing arrow to the account icon.
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7. | Repeat steps 4 to 6 to disable the other accounts you want to block.
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8. | Select File, Exit to close the Local Users and Groups snap-in.
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When an account is
disabled, Windows doesn’t include an icon for it in the logon screen, so
there’s no way for the user to log on to his or her account. When
you’re ready to give others access to the PC, repeat the preceding
steps, except deactivate the Account Is Disabled check box for each
account.
