Windows 7 : Managing Other People’s User Accounts (part 2)

5. Creating a Password for Other People’s Accounts

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

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→Add or Remove Users Accounts.

2. On the “Choose the account you would like to change” page, you’ll see a list of existing accounts on the computer. Click the account you want to work with.

3. On the “Make changes to…” page, click “Create a password.”

4. On the “Create a password for…account” page, shown in Figure 5, type a password for the account and then confirm the password by retyping it in the second text box.

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

6. Click “Create password.”

Create a password for an account only if this person doesn’t have encrypted files, personal certificates, or stored passwords for websites. If the user does have these items and you create a password, he or she will lose all the associated data. To keep this from happening, simply ask the user to log on and create his or her own password. Alternatively, you can log on as this person and create the password for the account.

Figure 5. Creating the account password

6. Changing the Password on Other People’s Accounts

Everyone who logs on to your computer should periodically change his password to help protect your computer. The best way to change passwords is to have the person log on and change the password himself. This way, he won’t lose any encrypted files, personal certificates, or stored passwords for websites.

If a user loses his password and you have no password recovery file, you can change the password on that person’s account by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→Add or Remove Users Accounts.

2. On the “Choose the account you would like to change” page, you’ll see a list of existing accounts on the computer. Click the account you want to work with.

3. On the “Make changes to…” page, click “Change the password.”

4. On the “Change…password” page, shown in Figure 6, type the new password for this user’s account in the first text box.

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

6. Afterward, type a unique password hint and then click “Change password.”

Change a password for an account only if this person doesn’t have encrypted files, personal certificates, or stored passwords for websites. If the user does have these items and you create a password, he or she will lose all the associated data. To keep this from happening, simply ask the user to log on and create his or her own password.

Figure 6. Changing the account password

7. Storing Another Person’s Password for Recovery

To ensure that another person can recover his or her password if he or she forgets it, you can store the password in a secure, encrypted file on a floppy disk or USB flash drive, and then use this file to recover his or her password if it’s forgotten. To store another person’s password for recovery, have the person log on to the computer

8. Recovering Another Person’s Password

To help another person remember or recover his or her password, complete the following steps:

1. On the logon screen, click this person’s 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 the account is displayed on the logon screen.

4. Have the other person type the password if he or she remembers it, and click the logon button. If the user logs 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 drive containing the other person’s password recovery file, and then click Next.

8. Have the other person type a new password in the first text box.

9. Have the user confirm his or her new password by retyping it in the second text box.

10. Have him or her type a new password hint in the third text box.

11. Have him or her click Next to log on with the new password.

9. Enabling Local User Accounts

User accounts on your computer can become disabled for several reasons. If a user forgets a password and tries to guess it, he or she might exceed the security settings for bad logon attempts. Another person with an administrator account could have disabled the account as well. When an account is disabled or locked out, you can enable it by following these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→System and Security→Administrative Tools.

2. Double-click Computer Management.

3. In Computer Management, double-click Local Users and Groups under System Tools and then select the Users node.

4. Right-click the account name and then select Properties. This displays a Properties dialog box for the account, as shown in Figure 7.

5. Clear the “Account is disabled” checkbox if selected.

6. Clear the “Account is locked out” checkbox if selected.

7. Click OK.

Figure 7. Enabling the account for logon

10. Controlling the Way Account Passwords Are Used

User accounts can have three flags that control the way passwords are used with the account. You can specify that a particular person:

• Must change his password the next time he or she logs on.

• Cannot change his or her password.

• Has a password that never expires.

To manage these settings for passwords for a user account, follow these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→System and Security→Administrative Tools.

2. Double-click Computer Management.

3. In Computer Management, double-click Local Users and Groups under System Tools and then select the Users node.

4. Right-click the account name and then select Properties. This displays a Properties dialog box for the account, as shown previously in Figure 7.

5. If you want this person to have to change his password the next time he or she logs on, select the “User must change password at next logon” checkbox.

6. If you don’t want this person to be able to change his or her password, select the “User cannot change password” checkbox.

7. If you don’t want this person’s password to expire, select the “Password never expires” checkbox.

8. Click OK.

11. Deleting Local User Accounts

Every account has a user profile and personal folders associated with it. The user profile stores the desktop configuration and preferences as well as other settings and data. When an account is no longer needed and you are sure the user has no settings or personal data that is needed, you can delete the account.

To a delete a person’s account, follow these steps:

1. Click Start→Control Panel→User Accounts and Family Safety→Add or Remove Users Accounts.

2. On the “Choose the account you would like to change” page, you’ll see a list of existing accounts on the computer. Click the account you want to delete.

3. On the “Make changes to… ” page, click “Delete the account.”

4. On the “Do you want to keep…files?” page, shown in Figure 8, you have two options. You can:

   • Click Keep Files to create a folder on your desktop containing a copy of the user’s personal data, and then delete the account.

   • Click Delete Files to delete all personal settings and personal data for this account, and then delete the account.

NOTE

Regardless of which option you choose, the user’s email, preferences, and other settings are deleted with the account.

Figure 8. Deleting the user account