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General discussion

Multiple User Accounts

Nov 17, 2003 1:27AM PST

My friend allowed her 14-year-old son to set up all the accounts on her computer. He made himself the administrator, and her and her daughter limited users.

If she changes her account type to administrator and her son's to limited, will that alone accomplish the following:

--Prevent him from accessing her internet history and settings.

--Allow her to access his, if she feels a need to.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Multiple User Accounts
Nov 17, 2003 1:59AM PST

Bad mistake to let her son set up the PC user accounts!

Here's what she can to to take back control of the PC:

* Make sure the file system is NTFS.

* Log on as the main ADMINISTRATOR and change the password to something her son doesn't know. Although I suspect her son has password protected this Admin account so she may be locked out of it!

* If she succeeds to log on as Administrator then go to User Accounts and change the son to Limited User and her account to Computer Administrator and also password protect her user account.

* If her user account is secured by password the son should not be able to log on and view her Internet History. But to prevent him from accessing Internet Options in both his and her user accounts she can download this Windows XP Security Console from Doug Knox.
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_seccons_scrn.htm
Review the second link and you will see that she can set all kinds of restriction to prevent access to the control Panel, Internet Options and much more.

Good luck...
Her son may still have a few tricks up his sleeves!

Wink

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Re:Re:Multiple User Accounts
Nov 17, 2003 2:14AM PST

Thsnks for your quick reply. I think she'll be content with gaining a modicum of control--and privacy. I will let her know about the console, however.

So, if she becomes the administrator, would she have access to his account? She's not planning to snoop, but who knows when she'll have to?

Also, what the heck is NTFS? Happy

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Re:Re:Re:Multiple User Accounts
Nov 17, 2003 2:22AM PST

Yes. If she is an the administrator she can access his files provided he did not encrypt them!

NTFS is a more secure file system recommended for XP.
Prior versions of Windows 98/ME uses FAT32 which can be accessed easily.

Read more about NTFS here:
NTFS vs. FAT: Which Is Right for You?
NTFS vs Fat32

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Re:Re:Re:Re:Multiple User Accounts
Nov 17, 2003 3:12AM PST

OK. So how can I tell whether she is using NTFS?

If she isn't using NTFS, how do we change to NTFS?

Thanks for your patience.

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Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Multiple User Accounts
Nov 17, 2003 3:33AM PST

To determine if the drives are usimg NTFS simply go to Disk Management and you can see the file system displayed.

To get to Disk Management:
Start | Run | type: diskmgmt.msc | OK.

To convert FAT32 to NTFS review the links in Bill's post or open the Help & Support Center in XP and search: convert
All the info is right there in XP.

Cheers.

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PART I.
Nov 17, 2003 3:24AM PST

1. The article [Q310749] states that Windows XP contains new features that are available only with the NTFS file system. This article outlines the features and advantages of converting to the NTFS file system and the four features are: Disk quotas, Encryption, Reparse points, Sparse files, and USN journal.

2. The step-by-step article [Q313398] describes how to control NTFS permissions inheritance, states that NTFS file-system permissions provide the administrator with the highest level of access control that is available, and than when you create a folder on an NTFS partition or volume, Full Control/Everyone are the default NTFS permissions on the folder and all objects that are created in the folder. All subfolders of the parent folder have the same permissions. The reason for this is that the parent folder's permissions are inherited by all subfolders of the parent.

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Re:PART I.
Nov 17, 2003 3:32AM PST

Thanks for all your help.

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PART II.
Nov 17, 2003 3:25AM PST

3. The article [Q314097] explains that Windows XP supports two disk file systems: the file allocation table (FAT) file system and the NTFS file system. This article explains how to convert a FAT partition into an NTFS partition and discusses the considerations that you must take into account. [Q307881] describes how to convert a FAT16 or FAT32 volume to NTFS. Whereas, [Q314878] describes and lists the default values that Windows uses to format a volume. The article lists default values for both the NTFS file system and the file allocation table (FAT) file system.

4. The article [Q309531] describes how to gain access to the System Volume Information folder. The System Volume Information folder is a hidden, system folder that the System Restore tool uses to store its information and restore points. There is a System Volume Information folder on every partition on your computer. You might need to gain access to this folder for troubleshooting purposes.