Learn Windows XP Professional in 15 Minutes a Week: Managing Users Accounts in Windows XP Professional

Welcome to
this week’s installment of Learn Windows XP Professional in
15 minutes a week, the tenth in this series. This article
will cover using Managing Users Accounts in Windows XP
Professional.

Managing
Users Accounts in Windows XP Professional

In
Microsoft Windows XP Professional, you will find one of
three different accounts in use on any given system:

• Local
  user accounts allow you to log on to the local system and
  access resources there. If you needed to access any type
  of resource beyond the local system, you would need to
  provide additional credentials in most cases. Local
  accounts authenticate to the local security database.
• Domain
  user accounts allow you to log on to the domain the user
  account belongs to in order to  access network resources. You may be
  able to access resources in other domains depending on how
  the trust relationships are defined or if any
  modifications have been made to them. Domain accounts
  authenticate to a domain controller and to the domain
  security database.
• Built-in user accounts allow you to perform administrative
  tasks on the local system and sometimes they can access local or
  network resources, depending on their configuration on the
  network. This too, is dependant on how trust
  relationships are defined or if any modifications have
  been made to them. The only two accounts created by
  default on a stand alone Windows XP Professional clean
  installation are Administrator and Guest.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] –

The built-in Administrator
account is enabled by default and cannot be deleted from the
system. The name of the account as well as the password can
be changed, however, and this is a recommended best
practice. It is also recommended that the default
Administrator account never be used or used as infrequently
as possible and only when tasks need to be performed at an
Administrative level. If there is ever more than one
Administrator on a workstation, each one should have an
account created for their use. In the event that you need to
log administrative events, this would be easier if there
were a number of different administrator accounts created
rather than a single one.

The Guest account also cannot
be deleted from the system; however, it is DISABLED by
default, and unless there is some required operational need,
it should stay disabled. The only “need” for the Guest
account would be a kiosk type terminal in a lobby of an
office building or hotel and in that event it could be used.
If there is ever a short-time need to grant access to a
temporary user to a system, it is always worth the
“aggravation” to create an account.