I have been using the computer as the administrator for
two months now. I went to add users yesterday (so my
three year old would stop meesing with stuff) and once I
created another administrator account for my daughter I
lost my administrator account. It goes invisible. How do
I keep this account active and create new accounts also.
I do not want to recogfiure a new account.

That is by design - once you have another administrator account added (why
exactly do you want to give a 3 year old administrative privileges? I am a
software engineer, and I don't even give that to myself) then the default
account is hidden. What I would recommend is creating a new admin account
for yourself. Now, you don't want to have to set everything back up for
yourself again, so log out of everyone's account and hit control-alt-del
twice. This will pull up a windows 2000-style login box, where you can just
type in the name administrator and the password (if any). Now, run the file
and settings transfer wizard and place the files somewhere on your hard
disk. Log out of this account, and go back into your new account. Run the
wizard again, this time placing the settings instead of retrieving them, and
your new account (with your name) will have all of the settings you had from
your old account, without all of the work of getting it set up.

I would seriously consider giving your daughter limited user privileges
instead of admin. Why do viruses do so much damage? Because so many people
run as admins. If you run some malicious code as a limited user, then all it
can do is touch that user's files and settings. Problematic, yes, but not
the end of the world. If you run that same malicious code as an
administrator, then that code can do pretty much anything that it wants to
do, such as install other malicious code, setting up a network service that
allows the bad guys to connect to your machine, and who knows what else.
Today, it can be an inconvenience to not run as an admin, but that is a
price I am willing to pay.

--
Chris Jackson
Software Engineer
Microsoft MVP - Windows Client
Windows XP Associate Expert
--
More people read the newsgroups than read my email.
Reply to the newsgroup for a faster response.
(Control-G using Outlook Express)
--

"Mokehil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:009201c3bb62$b5213f70$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have been using the computer as the administrator for
> two months now. I went to add users yesterday (so my
> three year old would stop meesing with stuff) and once I
> created another administrator account for my daughter I
> lost my administrator account. It goes invisible. How do
> I keep this account active and create new accounts also.
> I do not want to recogfiure a new account.

Thanks, I'll try this - I had been trying to accomplish
the same thing by following the directions in MicroSoft
Knowledge Bse Article -811151 "How to copy data to a new
user profile" but was unable to copy all of the files in
the Administrator folder (because they were in use or
some other error message). I'll try this and let you know
what happens,

James Luzzi
(E-Mail Removed)

>-----Original Message-----
>That is by design - once you have another administrator
account added (why
>exactly do you want to give a 3 year old administrative
privileges? I am a
>software engineer, and I don't even give that to myself)
then the default
>account is hidden. What I would recommend is creating a
new admin account
>for yourself. Now, you don't want to have to set
everything back up for
>yourself again, so log out of everyone's account and hit
control-alt-del
>twice. This will pull up a windows 2000-style login box,
where you can just
>type in the name administrator and the password (if
any). Now, run the file
>and settings transfer wizard and place the files
somewhere on your hard
>disk. Log out of this account, and go back into your new
account. Run the
>wizard again, this time placing the settings instead of
retrieving them, and
>your new account (with your name) will have all of the
settings you had from
>your old account, without all of the work of getting it
set up.
>
>I would seriously consider giving your daughter limited
user privileges
>instead of admin. Why do viruses do so much damage?
Because so many people
>run as admins. If you run some malicious code as a
limited user, then all it
>can do is touch that user's files and settings.
Problematic, yes, but not
>the end of the world. If you run that same malicious
code as an
>administrator, then that code can do pretty much
anything that it wants to
>do, such as install other malicious code, setting up a
network service that
>allows the bad guys to connect to your machine, and who
knows what else.
>Today, it can be an inconvenience to not run as an
admin, but that is a
>price I am willing to pay.
>
>--
>Chris Jackson
>Software Engineer
>Microsoft MVP - Windows Client
>Windows XP Associate Expert
>--
>More people read the newsgroups than read my email.
>Reply to the newsgroup for a faster response.
>(Control-G using Outlook Express)
>--
>
>"Mokehil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message
>news:009201c3bb62$b5213f70$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I have been using the computer as the administrator for
>> two months now. I went to add users yesterday (so my
>> three year old would stop meesing with stuff) and once
I
>> created another administrator account for my daughter I
>> lost my administrator account. It goes invisible.
How do
>> I keep this account active and create new accounts
also.
>> I do not want to recogfiure a new account.
>
>
>.
>

Greetings --

The built-in Administrator account really shouldn't be used for
day-to-day normal use. The standard security practice is to set a
strong password on it and use it only to create another account for
regular use, reserving the Administrator account as a "back door" in
case something corrupts your regular account(s).

As you've learned, once any additional user accounts have been
created, the Administrator account will no longer be displayed on the
Welcome Screen. This is a default security feature. By design, the
only way to log into the Administrator account of WinXP Home is to
reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at
the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login dialog box.

To copy the files and some of the settings from the Administrator
account to other user accounts:

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;811151


Bruce Chambers

--
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having both at once. -- RAH


"Mokehil" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:009201c3bb62$b5213f70$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have been using the computer as the administrator for
> two months now. I went to add users yesterday (so my
> three year old would stop meesing with stuff) and once I
> created another administrator account for my daughter I
> lost my administrator account. It goes invisible. How do
> I keep this account active and create new accounts also.
> I do not want to recogfiure a new account.