Fig 1.0 Double click on the User Accounts icon
Fig 1.1 The User Accounts window - Click on the MANAGE ANOTHER ACCOUNT link to continue.
| USER ACCOUNTS |
When you set up Windows Vista for the first time, just before the activating it over the Internet, you are asked to give
yourself a UserName. This is so that Windows Vista can create the master Administrator Account with your UserName on it.
Once created, the master Administrator Account can never be deleted. It becomes a part of Windows Vista and more importantly
your User (Windows Vista Membership) Account. As the administrator of Windows Vista you can create other User Accounts,
for your Friends and Family for example, and be in full control of those user accounts.
When an account is created, administrator account or user account, a UserName-Folder is created for that account. Inside that
username folder are standard username sub-folders (i.e Documents, Pictures, Downloads, Music and so on) which can be used by
Windows Vista and other software to store their own sub-folders and files in to. In order to use Windows Vista and any of the
computer's installed hardware and software, including your user account's username-folder, you must be logged-on (signed-in)
to Windows Vista with your user account. Logging-on (signing-in) is done by clicking on your username when Windows Vista
first starts and then entering your username's Password if it has one.
To create a User Account first open the Control Panel window and
then double click on the User Accounts icon, which will then open the User Accounts window.
Although a user account is usually set up for a friend, family member or a staff member you should consider setting up a
second user account for yourself in order to protect Windows Vista from damage. The second user account should then be
used instead of your first user account (your master Administrator Account). That way if anything bad happens to your
second user account, such as a bad software installation corrupting the second user account's folder and/or files, your
first user account and Windows Vista should be protected because each user account is a separate entity. Also. Forgetting
the password associated with your master administrator account can lock you out of Windows Vista forever, whereas forgetting
the password associated with your second user account means you can still log-on to Windows Vista from your master
administrator account. In that case you could still retrieve the folder and files from the second user account.
To create a user account start by clicking on the MANAGE ANOTHER ACCOUNT link, above. This will make a UAC (User Account Control)
security requester appear.
User Account Control (UAC) is a feature of Windows Vista that helps to prevent unauthorized changes to the computer, such as
deleting a system file or creating a user account. When attempting to create a user account UAC automatically blocks you off
with the security requester below, because it wants to know if you are the one attempting to create a user account and not a
piece of malicious software for example. In this case simply click on the CONTINUE button to continue.
If you decide you no longer want to create a user account at this stage click on the CANCEL button, otherwise click on the CONTINUE button to bring up the following Manage Accounts window.
On the Manage Accounts window you will see your master administrator account and a Guest account. The guest account is a
special account of Windows Vista which is meant for people who do not have an account on your computer. It allows them to
use your computer without having access to any other user account's folders and files. People using the guest account cannot
install software or hardware, change settings, or create a password. The guest account will need switching on before you can
use it - This is done by clicking on its icon to reveal the Turn On Guest Account window and then clicking on its TURN ON
button. After that you should restart the computer.
In this example I am showing you how to create a user account, so ignore the administrator and guest accounts and click on the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT
link (above) to bring up the following Create New Account window.
When the Create New Account window appears the first thing to do is give the account a UserName. This is done by typing a
name (username) into the USERNAME Edit Box. This is normally the name of a family member or staff member, but can be any
name you want....within reason! In this example I have typed John (above) as the username.
The next thing to do is decide what type of account you want to create - an Administrator account or a Standard account. A
standard account will allow you to use most of the computer's capabilities, but permission from an administrator account is
required if you want to make changes that affect other user accounts or the computer's security, such as wanting to
install/uninstall hardware/software. So basically, a standard account is good if you have a child, family member or staff
member who are not interested in tinkering with the internals of the computer and/or Windows Vista. If they are, you will
need to create an administrator account for them by clicking on the ADMINISTRATOR radio (circle) button. An administrator
account has all access rights to the computer.
After entering a username and deciding which type of user account you would like to create, click on the CREATE ACCOUNT
button so that Windows Vista can create the named user account for you.
When the new user account is created you will be returned to the Manage Accounts window where you will see the new user
account displayed. Windows Vista gives the new user account a random picture for its icon, but you can change the picture
later.
To begin using the newly created User Account close the Create New Account window, by clicking on its red X (Exit/Close)
button, and then restart Windows Vista. When Windows Vista returns from the restart log-on to the newly created user account
by clicking on its icon. In this example you would click on the icon with a picture of a tree on it and the username John
underneath the icon.
| CREATE A PASSWORD |
With the new user account created you can give it a Password for added security. Assuming you have created a Standard user account and logged-on to it, you need to go to the User Accounts window again and from there click on the CREATE A PASSWORD FOR YOUR ACCOUNT link. This will take you to the Create Your Password window (Fig 2.1 below).
The Create Your Password window requires two pieces of password information from you. A password and a confirmation of
that password. Begin by typing a password into the first edit box (the PASSWORD Edit Box) and then type it again into the
second edit box (the PASSWORD CONFIRMATION Edit Box). As you type, your characters will be displayed as dots for added
protection.
The second typing of the password is needed so that Windows Vista can compare the two passwords and establish if you have
made a typing error. For example. You may have thought you typed JIM as your password into the password edit box when in
fact you typed JIN, because your finger caught the N key instead of the M key. So when you type JIM, correctly, into the
password confirmation edit box Windows Vista is able to see the mistake and inform you of it. If Windows Vista only asked
you for one password and you typed JIN instead of JIM by mistake you would find yourself locked out of your user account
the next time you logged-on to it because you would not know the now correct password of JIN.
The last edit box is the PASSWORD HINT Edit Box. You can type an optional Password Hint into it that serves as a clue to
what your password is, without actually revealing your password. This is good if you tend to forget passwords in general.
In this example my password hint is Flower, to remind me that my password is the name of a flower. The password hint is
available at log-on time just in case you need to use it.
When you have entered your password information click on the CREATE PASSWORD button to create the password (Fig 2.1 above).
This will bring you back to the User Accounts window with your password enabled (Fig 2.2 below). However. The password will
not work until you restart the computer, or switch between user accounts, and then log-on to the
Standard user account again (Fig 2.3 below).
| CREATE A PASSWORD RESET DISK |
If you think you might forget your user account's password in the long run you can create a Password Reset Disk. A password
reset disk makes it possible for you to log-on to your user account when you have forgotten its password by allowing you to
create a new password.
Assuming you have logged-on to your user account (administrator account or standard account) and are on the User Accounts
window, you need to click on the CREATE A PASSWORD RESET DISK link to begin the Forgotten Password Wizard (Fig 3.1 below).
By carefully reading the information on the first window of the Forgotten Password Wizard (Fig 3.1 above) you will have a
better understanding of what a password reset disk is/does. When you have read the information click on the window's NEXT
button to continue.
In Fig 3.2 above your current password information, except the password itself, is saved onto the named device (i.e Floppy
Disk Drive or Flash Drive) as a Password Key Disk that is read back when needed - When you have forgotten your password you
will be asked for this disk (Fig 3.6 below). The named device can be changed here by using the drop-down menu, if you have
more than one device to use of course. When you are happy with the named device click on the NEXT button to continue.
In Fig 3.3 above you need to enter the user account's current password into the edit box. If the user account does not have a password leave the edit box empty. At this point you might be thinking "If there is no password why create a forgotten password disk?". I suspect that the forgotten password disk can unlock your user account in other situations as well?....perhaps when you have been locked out of the user account for another reason? Anyway. Here I will assume your user account has a password which you have typed into the edit box. From there click on the NEXT button so that your password can be added to the rest of the password information and then saved (Fig 3.4 below) onto the named device.
| CHANGE THE PICTURE |
To change a user account's picture is quite straight forward. Log-on to the user account whose picture you want to change and
then go to the User Accounts window. From there you have two methods that will apply a picture to the user account. The first
method allows you to apply a predefined Windows Vista picture and the second method allows you to apply your own picture.
Both methods are very easy to use.
Starting with method one. From the User Accounts window (Fig 4.0 below) click on the CHANGE YOUR PICTURE link to bring up
the Change Your Picture window (Fig 4.1). From there, select (click on) a predefined Windows Vista picture and then apply
it to the user account by clicking on the CHANGE PICTURE button. This will automatically exit the Change Your Picture window
and return you to the User Accounts window (Fig 4.2).
In the above example I clicked on the Musical Note picture before clicking on the CHANGE PICTURE button to apply it. With
method two it is just as easy to apply your own picture to the user account.
With method two, from the Change Your Picture window click on the BROWSE FOR MORE PICTURES link (Fig 4.3 below) instead of
selecting a predefined Windows Vista picture. A file requester will then appear (Fig 4.4) that is already set to look inside
your Pictures folder. If you want the file requester to look elsewhere for your picture you will have to navigate it to your
desired folder, otherwise leave the file requester as it is. With the pictures folder, or your desired folder, in view you
should be able to see the picture you want to apply to the user account - Scroll the file requester's viewing window if need
be. When you have located the picture, select (click on) it and then click on the file requester's OPEN button. This will
apply the picture to the user account and return you to the User Accounts window (Fig 4.5).
The next section shows you how to apply Parental Control to a Standard user account - A must for all Parents!
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John