Windows® 7 Bible

Chapter 3. Sharing and Securing with User Accounts

IN THIS CHAPTER

Why user accounts?

Creating and managing user accounts

Using user accounts

Recovering forgotten passwords

User account control secrets

Managing credentials and online IDs

Every person who uses your computer is called a user, and each user can have his or her own user account on the computer. Giving each person a user account is a lot like giving each person his or her own separate PC, but a lot cheaper. Each user can personalize the desktop and other settings to one's liking. Each person can have his or her own separate collection of pictures, music, videos, and other documents. Each user can also set up his or her own separate e-mail account.

User accounts allow parents to create and enforce parental controls in Windows 7. This is a great tool for parents who can't always monitor when and how children use the computer. Parental controls allow you to control and monitor children's computer use 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even when you're not around to do it yourself.

User accounts also add a level of security to your computer. Many security breaches occur not because of a problem with the computer or Windows, but because the user is in an account that grants malware (bad software) permission to do its evil deeds. Of course, people don't realize that they're granting permission, because the program doesn't ask for permission. It gets its permission automatically from the type of user account into which you're currently ...