User accounts provide the facility to maintain individual settings, preferences, secure documents and files
Since windows XP Home can be used only in a workgroup or as a stand alone computer we will discuss only these scenarios.
There are 3 types of accounts.
Computer Administrator.
This account is intended for a privileged person who can make system wide changes to the computer, install programs, and access all files on the computer. Only a user with computer administrator account has full access to other user accounts on the computer. Some of the important functionalities that can be performed by the administrator are:
Create and delete user accounts on the computer.
Create account passwords for other user accounts on the computer.
Change other people's account names, pictures, passwords, and account types.
An administrator cannot change his or her own account type to a limited account type unless there is at least one other user with a computer administrator account type on the computer. This ensures that there is always at least one user with a computer administrator account on the computer.
While this account has many privileges, it is recommended that this should not be used for day to day operations. We will see why this is not the recommended choice.
Why you should not run your computer as an administrator.
First of all when you run Windows XP as an administrator, you are running the computer with a higher level of privileges which can make system wide changes to the computer. It also makes the system vulnerable to Trojan horses and other security risks. Visiting an Internet site can be extremely damaging to the system, because unfamiliar Internet sites may have Trojan horse code that can be downloaded to the system and executed.
If you are logged on with administrator privileges, a Trojan horse could do things like reformat your hard drive, delete all your files, create a new user account with administrative access, and so on. To minimize the risk, it is recommended to log in as a user when doing day to day tasks and use the administrator account only for administrative tasks or making modification to the softwares.
If you frequently need to log on as an administrator, you can use the “runas” command to start programs as an administrator.
Limited user.
The limited account is intended for someone who should not be allowed to change the computer settings and deleting important files. Some of the limitations that apply to the “user with a limited account” are:
Cannot install software or hardware, but can access programs that have already been installed on the computer.
Can change his or her account picture and can also create, change, or delete his or her password.
Cannot change his or her account name or account type.
Some programs might not work properly for users with limited accounts due to the way the program was created/written. In this case the user’s privileges should be changed to administrator, either temporarily or permanently.
Guest
There is also another type of account but that is rarely used and is known as the guest account. This is available for users that do not fall in the above 2 types. There is no password for the guest account, so the user can log on quickly to check e-mail or browse the Internet. When a user is logged as a guest he/she has the following restrictions:
Cannot change the guest account type.
Can change the guest account picture.
But most of the time, the guest account is disabled for security reasons.
An account with the name "Administrator" is created during installation. This Administrator account, with computer administrator privileges, uses the administrator password you entered during setup.