Sharing a PC at home ? Retain your personalised settings with multiple user accounts

When several people are sharing a computer, which is the usual case at home, it can be annoying when strange icons and files suddenly appear and change the layout of your desktop or folders.. To avoid this, Windows XP allows you to create separate user accounts so that each user can customize his desktop, folders and other settings without affecting other users.

There are two types of user accounts commonly applied – Administrator and Limited. Administrator is usually the first account that would have been created when you first installed XP. An administrator can make changes within the system, install software and hardware, and access all files in the computer. A limited user account restricts your ability to download files, remove programs and access some parts of your system.

To create a new user , go to Control Panel – User Accounts and under Pick A Task, select Create new User. You can create new users with or without password access. The new users will appear in the Windows Welcome screen when you start your computer.

You have to be logged in as Administrator to create new user accounts. If you don’t mind other users installing files, changing settings and accessing all parts of the system, you can give any number of other users Administrative privileges. Otherwise, you can give them a Limited User account.