General Question regarding different user accounts on xP

[Fletcher]

Hello All,

I am trying to get the most out of XP with regards to organising notes and
things of that nature.

I have a question regarding the possibilities of using a different user
id/identity to log into windows xp in order to kind of "separate" different
areas of my data. For example is it possible to have a different online
identity for Private and personal matters where I could keep things like
family photographs, personal emails etc.etc. and more importantly would all
my software also keep separate records of these or not?

I can see that you can have separate identities but how does the "backend"
information get segrated or to what degree does it get separated.

Eg. a simple use of this would be for example to have email accounts going
to certain identities.

Does anybody use identities in this way?

All comments would be welcome

 

[DL]

Identities are used in Outlook Express
'Users/Accounts' are used in WinXP
I think your being a little over complex.
Assuming you use My Documents, simply create folders as required
You would only really want to keep data separate if you have multiple users
of your sys.

 

[Guest]

yes, this is possible.

Create two new user accounts, when it asks if you want to make My Documents
private, choose yes. This folder can be made private even after creating the
user accounts. To do this, right click My Documents and select Properties.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ddocs/en-us/windows_make_folders_private.mspx

This makes sure the folders are not accessible to other user accounts. So
you have the privacy required. Whenever, you create any documents for example
take MS Word, make sure to save the documents in My Documents folder to
maintain privacy.

For emails not a problem at all. They are secure.

 

[Fletcher]

Thanks very much for your reply.

yes, this is possible.

Create two new user accounts, when it asks if you want to make My
Documents
private, choose yes. This folder can be made private even after creating
the
user accounts. To do this, right click My Documents and select Properties.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ddocs/en-us/windows_make_folders_private.mspx

This makes sure the folders are not accessible to other user accounts. So
you have the privacy required. Whenever, you create any documents for
example
take MS Word, make sure to save the documents in My Documents folder to
maintain privacy.

For emails not a problem at all. They are secure.

 

[Fletcher]

Many Thanks for your reply.

Identities are used in Outlook Express
'Users/Accounts' are used in WinXP
I think your being a little over complex.
Assuming you use My Documents, simply create folders as required
You would only really want to keep data separate if you have multiple
users
of your sys.

 

[CWatters]

For example is it possible to have a different online
identity for Private and personal matters

where I could keep things like family photographs, personal emails

etc.etc. and more importantly would all

my software also keep separate records of these or not?
I can see that you can have separate identities but how does the "backend"
information get segrated or to what degree does it get separated.

Yes. Win XP keeps user data and config reasonably well seperated. Typically
when you set up a new user each ends up with their own "My Documents" folder
within C:\Documents and Settings.

Examples

C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents
C:\Documents and Settings\Dick\My Documents
C:\Documents and Settings\Harry\My Documents

It's best not to change a user account name later if you can avoid it - so
think carefully what to call them before you create them.

Eg. a simple use of this would be for example to have email accounts going
to certain identities.

Yes it works well. You just set up the user accounts in XP then log in to
each one in turn and set up the internet connection (could be different ISP)
and or email accounts.

Personally I would set them all up as admin users initially, then set up
their connections, programs etc. Then put them back to limited user status.

Does anybody use identities in this way?

My wife and I did exactly this for a while before we got a second PC. The
kids will sopn get their own accounts.