For users who are new to the Windows 7 experience, and who share a computer with other users, this post is a guide to help you manage user accounts in Windows 7. Sharing your PC with another person means that you want to have a unique desktop experience, one customized to suit your working style. You can take advantage of the three types of user accounts available in Windows 7 to set up accounts for different users each with its own personalized desktop, Start menu, and Library settings.
Before we get started, let’s take at the 3 types of user accounts available.
Administrators
A Windows 7 administrator has unlimited access to all programs on the computer. Admin users can install software programs, hardware drivers, create new users and groups, reset passwords, edit the Windows 7 Registry and more.
Standard Users
These are everyday users of the computer. They do not have top level access to the computer and cannot install software or hardware, cannot create new users or groups, or edit registry files. They can access programs, customize desktop settings, work on documents and save them on the computer.
Guests
A guest user is a temporary user who has minimal access to the system.
How to Manage User Accounts in Windows 7
When you install Windows for the first time, you are asked for a user name and password. Thus your first account is set up with Admin privileges. Now you can go about creating additional user accounts and manage them.
How to Create a New User Account in Windows 7 : Standard User
1. Click the Start button and choose Control Panel.
2. In the User Accounts and Family Safety section, click Add or remove user accounts.
3. In the next screen, select Create a new account.
4. In the next screen, in the New account name text box, enter a user name. Verify that standard user is selected. It is preferred that you create a standard account for general everyday use. Click Create Account.
How to Create a New User Account in Windows 7 : Guest User
1. In the Control Panel, in the User Accounts and Family Safety section, click Add or remove user accounts.
2. In the next screen, select Guest.
3. In the next screen, click Turn On to activate the guest account.
Now that you have created your first users, you can go ahead and edit the user account settings.
How to Edit User Accounts in Windows 7
1. Navigate to the Add or remove user accounts section.
2. Select the user account you want to edit.
3. In the next screen, you have options to change the account name, account type, and picture, set up parental controls, create a password, or delete the account.
The process to manage each of the individual items specified above is quite simple, so just follow the instructions on screen and you should be on your way to becoming an expert user account manager!
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3rd-Party tools are also available to manage the users on every Windows box particularly in Win 7. Also, I do some tweaks on the Group Policy Editor to limit their access 🙂