Adapted from Ed Bott's Your New PC: Seven Easy Steps to Help You Get Started!

In some offices, more than one person uses the same computer. Every person who uses a computer should have a unique user account that is accessed with a private password. Each computer user can then view private files and e-mail, or personalize the desktop with favorite colors and photos. Of course, the best reason to set up individual user accounts is security.

As an administrative assistant, you might have the job of setting up user accounts on a computer. This task might include establishing an account for yourself on that computer so that you can install new software or perform other administrative tasks. Follow these steps to set up user accounts and create passwords on a computer.

Create a user account

You can use Microsoft Windows XP to set up two types of accounts:

• Computer administrator   This account gives the user full rights and privileges on the computer. The user can install programs, manage files and folders, create new accounts, or change existing ones. If you regularly need to perform software upgrades or other administrative chores on a computer, you probably want to create this type of account for yourself.
• Limited   This account permits a user to run programs that are already installed on the computer and to make some changes to a personal user account. But the user can't install new programs, access files belonging to other users, or change other user accounts.

Here's how to create a new user account:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click User Accounts.
3. In the User Accounts dialog box, click Create a new account.

   

4. Enter a name for the new user. After the user logs on, this name appears on the Welcome screen and at the top of the Start menu. Click Next to continue.

   

5. To choose the account type, select either Computer administrator or Limited.

   

6. Click Create Account.

Return to the User Accounts dialog box, where you can repeat these steps to create additional accounts for other users.

Add a password to a user account

Without a password, a user account remains unprotected. Anyone who sits at a computer can click a user name on the Welcome screen to log on to the account. The person can then start working with existing programs, installing new ones, or creating, changing, or deleting files.

No matter how much you trust the people around you, creating a password for an account noticeably increases security. Using passwords also lessens the chance of a user accidentally logging on to the wrong account and mistakenly altering another user's files or settings.

A password doesn't have to be complicated. Ideally, it should be at least seven characters long, with a mix of capital and lowercase letters and numbers. It should be easy for you to remember and hard for someone else to guess — that means no using your pet's name or your birthday!

To create a new password, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click User Accounts, and then click Change an account.
3. Click your account name.
4. Click Create a password.

   

5. Under the Create a password for your account heading, type the new password in both boxes. (Typing the password twice is a security precaution that prevents you from accidentally mistyping your intended password and being unable to access your account later.)
6. If you want to add a hint to remind yourself of the password, you can enter a word or phrase in the box at the bottom. This hint is available from the Welcome screen if you forget your password. Because anyone can see the password hint, make it something that jogs your memory but doesn't help someone who is trying to break in to your computer.

   

7. Click Create Password.
8. At this point, Windows offers you the option of making your files private so that only you can read them. Choosing an option returns you to the User Accounts dialog box.

   

9. Click Start, and then click Log Off. Return to the Welcome screen, click the user name, and enter the new password to verify that it works.

By creating a user account and password, you can ward off accidental or deliberate damage to a computer user's files and settings.

About the author   Ed Bott is an award-winning journalist and a former writer and editor for PC World and PC Computing. One of the most recognized voices in the computing world, he is a two-time winner of the Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Award and a three-time winner of the Computer Press Association Award. This article is adapted from Ed Bott's Your New PC: Seven Easy Steps to Help You Get Started! (2005), which is available from Microsoft Learning.