how many users do I have to have?
in [Windows XP]
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From: SusanJ on 9 Jul 2010 09:00 I recently had massive virus problems and reloaded XP. Now I'm slowly reinstalling my applications, trying to get all my hardware to work, and trying to understand a bit more about how XP actually works. I'm the only one who uses my computer, and I don't see the need of any more than one user. When I look at Documents and Settings now, post-reload, I see: Administrator All Users Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) Susan When I look at Documents and Settings from a pre-reload backup, I see: Administrator All Users Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) Owner On my newly loaded current setup, can I get rid of my "Susan" user and just use "Administrator"? I read somewhere that if I delete a user, I'll have a chance to save any files from that user -- is that right? Is there any downside to deleting "Susan"? Pre-reload, I thought I just had the one Administrator user -- not sure what "Owner" was... Thanks for any advice / insight --
From: Bruce Chambers on 9 Jul 2010 09:28 SusanJ wrote: > I recently had massive virus problems and reloaded XP. Now I'm slowly > reinstalling my applications, trying to get all my hardware to work, and > trying to understand a bit more about how XP actually works. > > I'm the only one who uses my computer, and I don't see the need of any more > than one user. When I look at Documents and Settings now, post-reload, I see: > > Administrator > All Users > Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) > Susan > > When I look at Documents and Settings from a pre-reload backup, I see: > > Administrator Profile for the built-in Administrator account, which cannot be deleted. > All Users System file used to apply common settings to multiple user accounts, should they ever be created. > Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) Correct. > Owner > Default user profile created by some OEMs, usually used by the first user account created during Windows installation and set up. > On my newly loaded current setup, can I get rid of my "Susan" user and just > use "Administrator"? Not very wise. While using a computer with limited privileges isn't the cure-all, silver bullet that some claim it to be, any experienced IT professional will verify that doing so definitely reduces that amount of damage and depth of penetration by the malware. If you get infected/infested while running as an administrator, the odds are much greater that any malware will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to remove with formating the hard drive and starting anew. The intruding malware will have the same privileges to all of the files on your hard drive that you do. A technically competent user who is aware of the risks and knows how to take proper precautions can usually safely operate with administrative privileges; I do so myself. But I certainly don't recommend it for the average computer user. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the built-in Administrator account was never intended to be used for day-to-day normal use. The standard security practice is to rename the account, set a strong password on it, and use it only to create another account for regular use, reserving the Administrator account as a "back door" in case something corrupts your regular account(s). > I read somewhere that if I delete a user, I'll have a > chance to save any files from that user -- is that right? It's supposed to work that way, but it's be wiser to manually back up any data first, just in case. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. ~ Denis Diderot
From: dadiOH on 9 Jul 2010 15:09 SusanJ wrote: > I recently had massive virus problems and reloaded XP. Now I'm slowly > reinstalling my applications, trying to get all my hardware to work, > and trying to understand a bit more about how XP actually works. > > I'm the only one who uses my computer, and I don't see the need of > any more than one user. When I look at Documents and Settings now, > post-reload, I see: > > Administrator > All Users > Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) > Susan > > When I look at Documents and Settings from a pre-reload backup, I see: > > Administrator > All Users > Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) > Owner > > On my newly loaded current setup, can I get rid of my "Susan" user > and just use "Administrator"? I read somewhere that if I delete a > user, I'll have a chance to save any files from that user -- is that > right? Is there any downside to deleting "Susan"? Pre-reload, I > thought I just had the one Administrator user -- not sure what > "Owner" was... > > Thanks for any advice / insight -- The good folks at Microsoft try their best to save you money by insisting you use XP for multiple users. Could they have given users a choice? Sure, but they didn't. You have pretty much the minimal, just ignore all the useless, superfluous "users". -- dadiOH ____________________________ dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
From: SusanJ on 9 Jul 2010 18:26 Thanks, Bruce Chambers & DadiOH. I guess I'll keep Susan & be Susan except when being Susan isn't enough :-) :-) "SusanJ" wrote: > I recently had massive virus problems and reloaded XP. Now I'm slowly > reinstalling my applications, trying to get all my hardware to work, and > trying to understand a bit more about how XP actually works. > > I'm the only one who uses my computer, and I don't see the need of any more > than one user. When I look at Documents and Settings now, post-reload, I see: > > Administrator > All Users > Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) > Susan > > When I look at Documents and Settings from a pre-reload backup, I see: > > Administrator > All Users > Default User (grayed-out, as a system file I suppose) > Owner > > On my newly loaded current setup, can I get rid of my "Susan" user and just > use "Administrator"? I read somewhere that if I delete a user, I'll have a > chance to save any files from that user -- is that right? Is there any > downside to deleting "Susan"? Pre-reload, I thought I just had the one > Administrator user -- not sure what "Owner" was... > > Thanks for any advice / insight --
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