Windows 7 : Managing Your User Account

Your user account has many properties associated with it. These properties include a password, picture, account name, and account type designation. Unless your computer is on a domain, you can manage the properties associated with your user account by following the techniques discussed in this section. Most account management tasks require you to have an administrator account or the username and password of an administrator account.

NOTE

If your computer is part of a domain, you won’t be able to use these techniques to manage your account, even if you log on to your computer using a local account. As discussed previously, when your computer is a member of a domain, different security components and features are in effect.

1. Changing Your Account Name

Because your computer tracks your account with an SID, you can safely change your account name at any time without worrying that this will cause problems with your access permissions or privileges. If you want to change your account name, follow these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→User Accounts.

2. Select “Change your account name.”

3. On the Change Your Name page, shown in Figure 1, type the new name for your account and then click Change Name.

Figure 1. Changing your account name

2. Changing Your Account Picture

Your account picture is displayed on the logon screen and on the Start menu. If you want to change your account picture, follow these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→User Accounts.

2. Select “Change your picture.”

3. On the Change Your Picture page, shown in Figure 2, click the picture you want to use, or click the “Browse for more pictures” link to select any BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, DIB, or RLE picture to use.

4. Click Change Picture.

NOTE

When you use a picture other than a default picture provided by Microsoft, Windows 7 automatically optimizes the picture and saves the optimized copy as part of your personal Contact entry in Windows Contacts. Although it may seem strange to save the picture as part of your personal .contact file, doing so is a quick and easy shortcut for the operating system. Most pictures are optimized to a file size of 50 KB or less—even high-resolution pictures.

Figure 2. Changing your account picture

3. Changing Your Account Type

You can configure your user account as a standard user account or as an administrator user account. If you are logged on with a standard user account, you can change the account type to Administrator. If you are logged on with an administrator account, you can change the account type to Standard User.

NOTE

Your computer must have at least one administrator account. If your account is the only administrator account, you won’t be able to change the account type to Standard User.

You can change the account type by following these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→User Accounts.

2. Select “Change your account type.”

3. On the “Select your new account type” page, shown in Figure 3, set the account type as either Standard user or Administrator.

4. Click Change Account Type.

Figure 3. Changing your account type

4. Creating Your Password

To protect your computer, your user account should have a strong password. You can create a password for your account by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→User Accounts.

2. Select “Create a password for your account.”

3. On the “Create a password for your account” page, shown in Figure 4, type a password and then confirm it.

4. Afterward, type a unique password hint. The password hint is a word or phrase that can help you remember the password if you forget it. This hint is visible to anyone who uses your computer, so be careful what you use.

5. Click “Create password.”

Figure 4. Creating your account password

5. Changing Your Password

You should periodically change your password to help protect your computer. You can change the password on your account by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→User Accounts.

2. Select “Change your password.”

3. On the “Change your password” page, shown in Figure 5, type your current password in the first text box.

4. Type your new password in the second text box.

5. Confirm your new password by retyping it in the third text box.

6. Afterward, type a unique password hint. The password hint is a word or phrase that can help you remember the password if you forget it. Because this hint is visible to anyone who uses your computer, you’ll want to be careful what you use as the hint.

7. Click “Change password.”

Figure 5. Changing your account password

6. Storing Your Password for Recovery

You can store your password in a secure, encrypted file on a floppy disk or USB flash drive, and then use this file to recover your password if you forget it.

To store your password for recovery, complete these steps:

1. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and then click the Change a Password option.

2. Click “Create a password reset disk” to start the Forgotten Password Wizard.

3. In the Forgotten Password Wizard, read the introductory message and then click Next.

4. You can use a floppy disk, USB flash drive, or a flash memory card as your password key disk. To use a floppy disk, insert a blank, formatted disk into the A: drive and then select Floppy Disk Drive (A:) in the drive list. To use a USB flash drive, select the device you want to use on the drive list. Click Next.

   NOTE

   If you insert a USB flash device after clicking Next, it won’t be displayed on the list automatically. Click Back and then click Next to update the list to include the device you just inserted.

1. Type your current password in the text box provided and then click Next.

2. After the wizard creates the password reset key, click Next and then click Finish.

3. Remove the disk, USB flash drive, or flash memory card and store it in a safe location. Anyone who has this disk or drive can use it to access your account.

7. Recovering Your Password

Windows 7 provides two ways for recovering passwords: password hints and password reset disks. You can access your password hint or recover your password by completing the following steps:

1. On the logon screen, click your username to display the Password prompt.

2. Click the button to the right of the password text box without entering a password.

3. When you click OK, the password hint for your account is displayed on the logon screen.

4. Type your password and click the logon button. If you log on successfully, skip the remaining steps. Otherwise, click OK and continue with password recovery.

5. On the logon screen, click Reset Password.

6. When the Reset Password Wizard starts, click Next.

7. Insert the disk into the A: drive or the USB flash key containing your password recovery file, and then click Next.

8. Type a new password in the first text box.

9. Confirm your new password by retyping it in the second text box.

10. Type a new password hint in the third text box.

11. Click Next to log on with your new password.