One of the first tasks a user must complete upon starting a new computer is to set up a user account. This is done in what is called the "out of box experience" windows that run only on the first boot. Additional users can be added at any time. User account set up can be accessed via the control panel. There are other methods to access these same screens to add additional users to your new system.
The first access point you will see is the "Add new users" icon on the Welcome Center window. This screen provides convenient access to User Accounts control windows and is available every time you turn on your computer. I should say it is available on boot until you decide to uncheck the box in the lower left corner labeled "Run at startup". It also points you to the System and Maintenance section in the Control Panel if you want to access this window after turning it off. A link is also provided on the Start Menu / All Programs / Accessories.
From the Welcome Center link you jump to "Control Panel > User Accounts." The first thing you will notice is that this page provides access to controls for more than just system user accounts. Fortunately, User Accounts is at the top of the list. Simply clicking "Add or remove user accounts" under the User Accounts heading will take you where you need to be. This will invoke the User Account Control feature of Vista and since this is an action known to be initiated by you, it is safe to click the "Continue" button.
Illustrated here is an example of the new User Account Control, which is an addition to the original information published here. When the UAC dialog appears, your computer is locked until clicking one of it's buttons or you wait until it goes away. Without user input UAC will block the action, after a length of time has passed, that caused it to become initiated. During this time, other Windows functions come to a stand still, which makes capturing a screen shot of this dialog difficult. We finally resorted to using a camera to capture this view.
The next stop is the "Manage Accounts" window. Since you are adding accounts rather than changing them, click the "Create new account" link located beneath the box around the user icons. When the new account has been created you will be returned to this screen.
Setting up user accounts is a fairly straightforward process, as one can determine from the simplicity of the add user screen. Typing the username in the indicated text box is easy enough. The next step is the difficult part, deciding which type of account to choose Standard or Administrator. Yes, account types have changed a bit. In Windows Vista the administrator account has been continued while the limited account of Windows XP has been replaced by the standard account. This brings the Windows operating system in line with Unix style operating systems. These operating systems were reportedly more secure than previous versions of Windows mainly due to user account arrangements. Typically, in Unix style operating systems there is only one user with Administrator privileges. That, of course, being the system administrator. All other accounts are standard accounts with limited privileges for installing programs (executables) or making system wide changes thus limiting if not preventing malware infections. Now Windows has this same layer of security as these other systems, providing that computer users actually use these features rather than turning them off. That is basically the reason for the standard account usage recommendation toward the bottom of the window.
Once a user name has been provided and an account type chosen click the "Create Account" button. This returns you to the Manage User Accounts window, which will now include an icon for the new user. Click the new icon to provide password protection for this account. Notice in the picture that the "Guest" account is turned off. This is the default setting for this account and the Safe Mode account named "Administrator" in Windows Vista.
Some people view password protection as a bother and skip this step. According to security experts, of the estimated 600,000,000 personal computers world wide approximately one third of these are infected with zombie bots and used in Denial of Service attacks. These zombie bot armies are also used to send spam e-mail when not being used for other malicious purposes. Whether or not to use account passwords is up to the individual. It is, after all, your computer, for the time being at least.
Clicking the "Create a password" link in the above picture takes you to this screen, which is used to create an account password initially and later on to change the password. Because it is easier to control physical access to your computer, if you use long strong passwords it might be better to write them down and keep the list handy than to use the hint section of this page. Once you have your password entered just click the "Create password" button toward the bottom.
After clicking the "Create a password" button you are returned to the Manage Accounts page, which gives you an overview of each account on your computer. At a glance, you can see whether an account is password protected and what account type has been assigned to the user. Perhaps you have noticed the link toward the bottom of this window under the heading of "Additional things you can do". The main user accounts page has been avoided in this article until now.
If the main user account page is your destination of choice, the shortcut my 8 year old daughter showed me for Windows XP still works. Just click your user icon on the Start Menu.
The main User Accounts Page provides access to all the properties of your account. If the account you are using at this point has Administrator privileges you can also manage other accounts. The selection on the bottom of the task list presented here is the cause of the delay in looking at this window. From what I have been told, this option isn't available in the Home Basic version of Vista.
Clicking this link gives access to the page on which you can turn off the User Account Control mechanism of Windows Vista. This is the process that gives you all the "windows needs permission" dialogs. Unchecking the box shown here will turn this feature off. It is recommended that UAC be left in the On state because it is an integral part of the built in security features of Windows Vista. Turning UAC off defeats many of these features. There is debate as to how much security these features provide, however, they do give extra layers of defense not available in other versions of Windows. It doesn't take long to become familiar with the "continue" button on the UAC warning dialogs and it isn't necessary to install anything to have these features that many third party security programs have been adding to other versions of Windows.
Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Windows, Windows XP and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other names have been included in the above text that are trademarks of the respective companies.
