User Accounts - Vista

muletide

Hi,

Quick question about Accounts on Windows vista - On our PC I am down as the administrator but my wife has a guest account - this means she can make very few changes to settings - cannot download updates and there are numerous other areas she cannot access

I want to give her the same access as myself but cannot work out how to do it - any help ?

ethernet

Is there not a third option, like a standard user, between admin and guest? I think it requires entering a password for UAC elevation but it's not as limited as guest.

Overheal

Go to Start and in the very upper righ corner click your User Icon.

In the accounts settings pop-up select Manage Other Accounts. Here you can see your account and the guest account (and your wifes account)

(At the bottom of this new box, you Can create a new Account. Theres Standard and Administrator accounts. Theres a description of each. Standard Users cant make any changes that require a UAC prompt.)

If you dont want to create a new account, but instead want to elevate the level of your wife's existing account (not the Guest account), select her icon with a double click. In the dialog page that comes up you have the option to Change the Account Type - to either Standard or administrator.

The Guest account afaik has even lower priveledges than a Standard User - meaning they cannot personalize anything. The guest account is really meant for house guests, in practice: anyone using the computer on a regular basis should be given either a standard or administrative account.

Microsoft wrote:

When you use a standard account, you can use most programs that are installed on the computer, but you can't install or uninstall software and hardware, delete files that are required for the computer to work, or change settings on the computer that affect other users. If you're using a standard account, some programs might require you to provide an administrator password before you can perform certain tasks.

A guest account is an account for users who don't have a permanent account on your computer or domain. It allows people to use your computer without having access to your personal files. People using the guest account can't install software or hardware, change settings, or create a password.

in fact if firefox needs to install a software patch you wont even be able to run firefox under Guest - its really quite sad