Accessing User Accounts

This How-To Geek School class is intended for people who have their own home network with at least one Windows PC or device. The end objective is to give you the knowledge you need in order to set up sharing in Windows and be able to share files, folders, and devices with other PCs or devices in your home network, regardless of the operating system.

In this first lesson you will learn what a user account is and what the most important characteristics of a user account are. Then, we will go into detail about the types of user accounts that are available in Windows and what’s different from this perspective in Windows 8 versus Windows 7. As you will see, the newest versions of Windows have added new user types that are very different than what you have been accustomed to in the past.

Next, we will explain the concepts of user groups and permissions. As you will see, these concepts are important when sharing with others on the network.

Last but not least we will explain the benefits of using a Microsoft account in Windows 8, related to network sharing.

What is a User Account?

A user account is a collection of settings and information that tells Windows which files and folders you can access, what you can do on your computer, what are your preferences, and what network resources you can access when connected to a network.

The user account allows you to authenticate to Windows or any other operating system so that you are granted authorization to use them. Multi-user operating systems such as Windows don’t allow a user to use them without having a user account.

In Windows, you can manage your computer’s user accounts by going to the “Control Panel” and then to “User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts.”

A user account in Windows is characterized by the following attributes:

·         User name – the name you are giving to that account.

·         Password – the password associated with the user account (in Windows 7 or older versions you can also use blank passwords).

·         User group – a collection of user accounts that share the same security rights and permissions. A user account must be a member of at least one user group.

·         Type – all user accounts have a type which defines their permissions and what they can do in Windows.

Windows 7 User Accounts

Windows 7 and earlier versions has three important types of accounts:

Administrator

The “Administrator” user account has complete control over the PC. He or she can install anything and make changes that affect all users of that PC.

Standard

The “Standard” user account can only use the software that’s already installed by the administrator and change system settings that don’t affect other users.

Guest

The “Guest” account is a special type of user account that has the name Guest and no password. This is only for users that need temporary access to the PC. This user can only use the software that’s already installed by the administrator and cannot make any changes to system settings.

Windows 8 User Accounts

Windows 8 introduces two new types of user accounts, alongside those already in Windows 7: